By Denae Jones

I heard something the other day that was both startling and disheartening. Some teens I was talking with said they have a lot of peers who don’t know who Jesus is. Sure, they’ve heard the name. Maybe they know Christmas is supposed to be his birthday. But beyond that, they really have no knowledge or understanding.
I was hoping maybe that was just in their peer circle, so I started asking other people in other towns, in other circles. Same answer. They know Christians are the ones who go to the churches in their towns, but don’t really understand what it’s all about, so they feel like outsiders. It seems like a ‘members-only’ club they don’t belong to, so they avoid it.
My heart sank! I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but my little town has about 16 churches that do tons of great ministry work. The people here are literally surrounded by Christians on a day to day basis. How in the world are there still people who don’t know who Jesus is?
Let me be clear. I’m not talking about pushing religion on anyone. To be honest, I don’t like religion. You give anyone a list of rules full of ‘do-nots’ and they feel as if they failed before they start. No thanks.
I’m talking about grace, mercy, and redemption. Why is there anyone who hasn’t heard that Jesus loves them right where they are? Right in the middle of whatever mess they’re in. Why don’t they understand that churches are not filled with perfect people, but with people who need forgiveness just like everyone else? That there is nothing they can do to make Jesus love them less? That nothing they have done in their past, and nothing that has been done to them makes them ‘less’ than anyone else? That Jesus died and rose so our sins can be forgiven? That we can believe and be redeemed and have everlasting life?
If we claim to be a Christian and only talk about Jesus to people who already love Jesus, it’s no wonder so many think we are hypocrites. Think about it. Jesus respected the religious teachers, but he didn’t spend his time hanging out with them. In fact, he reprimanded them for excluding groups of people who didn’t follow all of their manmade rules. Remember who he hung out with? The outcasts. The ones society looked down on. In Luke 5:31, Jesus said, “It’s not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick.” (If you read that verse and thought about other groups of people and it didn’t include yourself, please read it again. He’s talking about all of us.)
If our churches are only welcoming the ones who look a certain way or act a certain way, or vote a certain way, we are doing it wrong. If we welcome most groups of people, but not that one, we are doing it wrong. If we walk out our church doors on Sunday morning and go through our whole week without showing the love of Jesus to someone else, I have to ask… why not?
How do we make this better? Well, not by being preachy, and definitely not by trying to point out how someone is sinning. We’ve got our own sins to worry about. Just start by being real. Tell your story. Have you messed up big time in the past? So has everyone else. Be relatable. Share how far God has brought you.
People know when you’re being fake. Don’t do that. Form genuine friendships with people who are different than you. Have real conversations. You might be thinking that’s easy to say, but what does it look like?
It could be as simple as listening to someone’s story. Maybe a former church or someone who called themselves a Christian has hurt them in the past and they want nothing to do with people who act like that. Or maybe it’s as simple as walking across the lawn and helping that abrasive neighbor you don’t normally talk to. It could be by not just praying for someone, but offering to pray with them. Maybe they don’t know how to pray and you can show them how easy a conversation with God really is.
Maybe it’s by volunteering time or donating money to organizations that aren’t afraid to talk about Jesus while they reach out to help families in your neighborhood. (Two great examples of that is The Shepherd’s Place and Empower Youth in Bethel.) Maybe it’s giving an apology that has gone unspoken for too long, or saying thank-you to someone in a thankless job. Maybe it’s by doing the humble work that nobody else wants to do. Or maybe it’s by inviting someone to church. When was the last time you did that? If you can’t remember, it has been too long.
If we do our part and they choose not to seek Jesus, that’s between them and God. Love them anyway. But if we saw the opportunity and didn’t talk to them because it made us uncomfortable, well, that will be between us and God. We were born in this time, in this place because God has work for us to do right now, with these people. Let’s do it.
Side note: This was a conversation in my own head about what I need to do better myself. I put it on paper in case anyone else needed the same reminder.
Have a blessed week, friends!