Programs & Evangelism (1.8.06 revised)

A few weeks ago a friend and I were up late playing cards. It was well into the early hours of the morning when we began to talk about a topic not too uncommon for us. We began to talk about the church and what, as young people, we think should be done differently.
The conversation began with me defending the work I did as a missionary. Throughout this discussion the questioned centered on whether or not the program was successful in reaching teens for Christ and much to the surprise of those present I defended the work I did in Germany. I defended the workers, the missionaries like myself, who in spite of the program began to invest in the lives of the youth in their area.
For the most part it wasn’t the workers who failed the kids--it was the program. Within the program, the spiritual formation of these young peoples was triggered by an emotional response. Give the kids the best week, the best weekend, the best hour of their week and let them equate that the God and a life with Christ. Do all this and lead them to a house built on shifting sand. Few survive.
It was no different then the manipulation that occurs at a youth or college worship event. Dim the lights, play some rockin’ music, then some softer music, give them time to think, reflect, play some more songs that trigger memories or something that gets them emotionally charged. By the second song half the crowd is on their feet—praising God?
A cynical response to an experience so many of us hold so dear—I know I do. These experiences were extremely formational in my spiritual life. However, I cannot say that they were the only things that helped me wade further into the waters of faith; it was the people who came along side me.

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My friend and I attended a church that was moving into a bigger, better building. It was hailed as a great opportunity to minister to the community around them, when in reality it simply created more room. A year later the church hasn’t grown and the existing participant simple have more room to move around. It had become a million dollar building built to house the people of God for a few hours each week. Buildings do not attract people to Christ for the most part, it is people, or more importantly--it is God. And I can’t help but think is that what God wants us to do with our money.
The idea of a large church with many different programs is bothersome to me. It is bothersome simply because programs fail. They fail so often to reach the people they are intended to reach. A college group ministering to the college students, but in many cases it is to college students who already know Jesus--not the student who is out the floundering in the life, struggling to make things better.
I have read of cults that do a better job of targeting student populations then churches. They have recognized the difficult place college puts students in and use that to their advantage. Students who are lonely and confused or struggling to make sense of a doctrinarian that occurred in their youth or in the their family and find someone who takes them in, cares for their needs and winning them over for their cause.
Shouldn’t we be there; not in the sense that we take advantage of this difficult time, but in that we are present. Maybe we miss the point the when make evangelism solely about people accepting Jesus and going to heaven.
This view of evangelism often serves no one but us. It is our goal that they meet Christ and in many cases not for their wellbeing but for ours. We feel better knowing that we might meet them again in heaven. But how often does our evangelic mission stop the moment we think that they may not accept our message.

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I think in both cases we seem to have missed the point. It is not a building, a program or even us who rescue humanity from its plight—it is God.