At Connexus, we dream of being the kind of church unchurched people love to attend. That's why we do what we do every weekend. That's why we are who we are. We don't do it perfectly, but we'll always do it passionately.
The key is we need to be influencing the culture around us. As Andy Stanley is sharing in his On Location series, it's important for those of us who have a relationship with Christ to be in the world – to be on location. Jesus kind of specialized in that, didn't he? And then he turned it over to us. Imagine that!
We're all for Christians building meaningful friendships with people who don't share our faith background. That may seem strange to say it that clearly out loud, but the trend is that most Christians mostly make friends with other Christians. Several years after making a commitment to Christ, our whole world can become church if we're not careful. That's kind of good, but not really. Who is doing to share life with those who don't believe but could believe?
Don't get me wrong, the goal is not to make friends to 'convert' them. People are people, not projects. But it's important that our relationships run deep and thick throughout the wider community. God loved this world and it's people so much that he died for them. Seriously.
So…as we move into the final days of summer, what can you do to deepen relationships and friendships with neighbours and friends? Throw a barbecue? Head out fishing? Go to a concert together? Have a games night for several families? Just hang out? I just want to encourage you to make it a priority.
One of the reasons we don't offer a lot of church programming mid-week is that we want you to have meaningful time with friends and family (and make time for your community group). It's important to take your faith and weave it into every day life, not just practice it in a church bubble.
In September, we're doing a series I am totally stoked about called Fresh Start – probably the best series to invite your friends to in a long while. Stay tuned for details. I hope you'll start praying now about who you can bring with you to Connexus after Labour Day.
And, in the spirit of 'thanks for reading this post all the way to the end", I have a prize for the first person who emails me at [email protected]: tickets for the semi finals or finals this weekend at the Rogers Cup in Toronto (courtesy of my good friend Patrick Voo).
It's world class tennis, and if you win, you pick what match you want to see (Saturday's semi's or Sunday afternoon's final). We can hook you up with tickets for either. Only condition? You need to invite a friend who doesn't normally go to church to go with you.
Enjoy what's left of the summer and make sure God can use you on location, where you are in all that you do.
– Carey