What do young non-Christians really want from us?

May 17, 2009

This past week I listened to David Kinnaman answer this question. Kinnaman is the President of Barna Research, and he has spent the past 12 years researching this topic. So, what was his answer to the question, “What do young non-Christians really want from us?” Nothing. That’s right. Kinnaman stated a somewhat hard to swallow truth- young non-Christians don’t really want anything from us Christians. However, what he asked next was crucial: “What do young non-Christians need from us?” They need Jesus. So, how do we help them understand what they need but don’t want? If young non-Christians see Christians as mostly hypocritical and judgmental, then how can we have any influence on them at all? What does this mean for the Church and specifically for Beachside?

Well, I think we have to begin to really live biblically. It will take a long time to overcome the perceptions we’ve created in our society, but we can begin that process as we change the perceptions of individuals one at a time. This won’t happen if we don’t develop a solid biblical worldview and live accordingly. Young people must come in contact with biblical Christians- at work, in our communities, and at “church”. We all have a long way to go here. We must begin to serve our community, help the poor, and battle world-wide social injustice- more than Kiwanis clubs, homeless coalitions, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney. We must raise Godly kids, set a Christian example at work, and show a genuine love for others- even those “difficult to love” people that God puts in our path. As Francis Chan says, we must “love others so much that we go to extremes to help them.” We must love them so much that people call us crazy. We must put others before ourselves, and that hurts.

Andy Stanley recently made an interesting statement. As the Senior Pastor of a church with a very attractional church model (a model we at Beachside have chosen to follow) he stated, “people are attracted to environments, but they stick to relationships.” Should we give up on creating amazing environments? No! Those environments are ONE important part of connecting with the unchurched. But, we must recognize that it is ultimately the geniune relationship- built on love- that people stick too. This should be obvious. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment he gave a very simple answer: Love God and love others. But genuine love is difficult.

We also have to rethink the way we “advertise church”. The goal of advertisement is to show that we’re the best at what we do. If we succeed in advertising that we’re the best church, we’ve actually done more harm than good in the minds of young people (who think the church is hypocritical and judgmental- do we really want to be the best at that?). We have to find ways to separate ourselves from the common perception of the “church” category. How do we do that? We just said it. It’s by loving people and investing in them one on one- not to try to get something out of them, but because we really care. Love is a verb. It’s something we do. When we love people we show that love in tangible ways. The church has spent too much time thinking of love as a feeling. If I love my neighbor, I demonstrate my love for him with my actions. Isn’t that the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated for us on the cross? The church (I’m referring to the Body of Christ which is made up of us individuals) must find ways to demonstrate Christ’s love, flowing through us, to the lost people of the world- our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and those we’ve never met- even those in other nations.

So, back to the question: What do young non-christians really want from us? Nothing. But, what can we give them? LOVE. If we do that, Beachside Community Church, Fort Walton Beach, the panhandle of Florida, and the world we live in won’t be the same! This isn’t going to be an easy journey, but it’s going to be amazing!

Shaun

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