The Evangelical church has dedicated massive amounts of energy and resources to the unchurched. In fact there are many evangelical leaders who would say something like “our church (or organization) exists for the unchurched.” Books have been written, conferences held, buildings built etc. specifically for addressing the issue of the “unchurched.” By our conversation, it could be easily argued that the primary purpose of the church is to get the unchurched to become churched. We should talk about this.
Can I be brutally honest? Any real evangelical knows this is not really the case. “Churched” is half euphemism and half image management and if we are brutally honest with ourselves it is half cowardice but that is the half we don’t want to talk about so that half doesn’t count. The reality is that some of the harshest words Jesus ever had were for those in the church – those leading the church specifically. If that is the case, why would we make it our goal to bring people simply to be churched? We really don’t. But words we previously used sounded too harsh, too judgemental so we softened our language to something that people would be OK admitting to and to something that we would feel more comfortable with. Are we really doing anyone any favors? Worse yet, have we started to believe our own marketing?
Jesus never talked about the unchurched, Jesus talked about lost people people who were condemned. There is a difference. The difference is real and it is hugely important. If someone is unchurched, all I have to do is invite them to my thing. Hopefully they will like the music and the message and just like that, they are churched. That’s pretty easy. Of course, hopefully along the way at some point that person will hear the gospel of Jesus and will respond with an eternity altering commitment to Jesus. But, even by our language we have downplayed the importance of a saving faith in Jesus because by our language we simply are concerned whether they are “churched” or not.
Lost people on the other hand are a lot messier to deal with and they require a lot more commitment. There is an urgency with lost people because they are in a precarious situation, they are lost. Unchurched people on the other hand just have something else to do on Sunday morning. Lost people a lot of times don’t even know they are lost and we need to help them understand their predicament. That can be tricky. Lost people need to be loved by us, unchurched people just need an invitation to an event. There is a major life change required for lost people, unchurched people just need to alter their schedule one day a week once or twice a month. Lost people may require something of us, unchurched people, not so much.
The thing is that Jesus said He came to seek and to save the lost, not the unchurched. The reality is that by referring to lost people as “unchurched” there are some unintended consequences. First, we have minimized (to put it nicely) the sacrifice of Jesus. He did not go through brutal whipping, scourging and humiliation let alone death on a sadistic torture implement so people would go to church. No, He made an incomprehensible sacrifice to redeem lost and damned people to God. That is our message. How can we possibly cheapen the gospel so egregiously? Secondly we have lost sight of the importance of the urgency of the plight of those around us. If they only need to be churched then it is no big deal. However, if they are lost, condemned to an eternity apart from God in a place of eternal punishment then that changes everything. Thirdly, and maybe most perniciously, we have moved the focus of people’s need for God to their need for our church. If we carry this to its logical conclusion, we can meet their need, they don’t even need God. Now we would never say that but really aren’t we saying that just in another way? There are other important consequences all the way down to the level of creating a word that makes no sense on par with “Are you YMCA’d?” Seriously, do we really want to do this?! Even grammatically “unchurched” and “churched” are made up words that make no sense.
We use the “un” prefix here differently than anywhere else in our language. If a person is unhealthy, we want to see them become healthy. If someone is unfit for the job, we want someone who is fit. If something is unattractive, our goal is to make it attractive. and the list could go on. However, if someone is unchurched, we want them to be saved. In truth, someone who is churched could just as easily spend an eternity apart from God as someone who is unchurched. And if we are completely honest with ourselves, we may be luring them there with our language. After all, if we invite them to church and they come, they have now become churched which is what our language indicates is the goal.
Please indulge my cynicsm for a minute (as if you haven’t been already). There are really only 2 reasons for for the word “unchurched.” One is so church growth marketers can promote your local congregation and make it sound good to you to attract those in your community by whatever means necessary to your congregation. More importantly though, the reason we use this term is so we don’t have to boldly face the reality of our (and our neighbor’s) condition before God. It’s time to be real. This is not a game and the stakes could not be higher.
Can we be honest and authentic and rid ourselves of the word “unchurched” forever!? That is not the language of a gates of hell prevailing bride of Christ. But let’s not just get rid of the word. Let’s boldly confront the spiritual battle that is before us and lovingly come alongside those that God has put in our path who have been taken captive by the lies and deception of this world and the devil Himself. Let’s help them come home to the God who created them and made the ultimate sacrifice to reconcile them to Himself. Let’s help the lost find their way to a God who loves them. Let’s help the unbeliever know the joy and assurance of The God who makes truth claims that He has backed up over and over again. Let’s help those condemned to an eternal punishment apart from God find the mercy and grace that awaits them if they give their lives to Jesus. Let’s not let them simply be satisfied to be “churched.”
Prologue
Relevant?
Defining Church
The Purpose of the Church
The Radiant Bride
Worship
Worship in the Church
Holy Huddle
Unchurched
Myth of Church Growth
Our Focus