Carl Medearis was recently asked to write a blog post for CNN's Belief blog. The post appeared on Sunday, and Carl was told that it would only be up for a couple of hours. It now has over 3,000 comments and still appears on the front page of the blog. The post is called, "Why Evangelicals Should Stop Evangelizing." What I believe stirred the pot was the following:
Funny thing is, Jesus never said, “Go into the world and convert people to Christianity.” What he said was, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”
Encouraging anyone and everyone to become an apprentice of Jesus, without manipulation, is a more open, dynamic and relational way of helping people who want to become more like Jesus — regardless of their religious identity.
Just because I believe that evangelicals should stop evangelizing doesn’t mean that they should to stop speaking of Jesus.
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It may come as a surprise to many Christians that Muslims are generally open to studying the life of Jesus as a model for leadership because they revere him as a prophet.
But now that I’m no longer obsessed with converting people to Christianity, I’ve found that talking about Jesus is much easier and far more compelling.
I believe that doctrine is important, but it’s not more important than following Jesus.
Jesus met people where they were. Instead of trying to figure out who’s “in” and who’s “out,” why don’t we simply invite people to follow Jesus — and let Jesus run his kingdom?
Inviting people to love, trust, and follow Jesus is something the world can live with. And since evangelicals like to say that it’s not about religion, but rather a personal relationship with Jesus, perhaps we should practice what we preach.
I pretty much agree with Carl. It's not about converting people to another religion. It is about making disciples of all nations. With that mindset, we can better trust in God's sovereignty that He is saving people. Otherwise, we will only fall apart as people don't "convert." I posted the link to the article on CNN above so you can view the whole thing.
What are your thoughts?
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