People outside the church are worth all the criticism

I was reading a blog post that was very encouraging. It was sharing the story of someone who was at a men's retreat that Erwin McManus was speaking at. Because of the seemingly unorthodox way Erwin goes about ministry, he gets criticism from certain contingents of Christians. The blog post told how Erwin told his church that he would take all the heat from those watchdog type of critical websites if it meant that people, like the friend at the men's retreat would put faith in Jesus. It is so refreshing to read stories like this with someone becoming a Christian from a very non-Christian background and world. And it is so refreshing to hear Erwin say that even though he gets criticized, he feels it is worth the heat to see people trust in Jesus as Savior.

** Update: you can watch the fellow that was blogged about getting baptized and him professing his faith before he was baptized here and hear Erwin's interview with him when he was at Mosaic here too.

I have found it at times fascinating, strange, helpful and hurtful when certain watchdog types of Christians write on blogs pretty mean things about other Christians and 98% of the time they are grossly inaccurate. I am aware that it is a pretty small slice of Christians who think like that and do those things, but as my theory goes - the small % are the most vocal ones. At first I was caught off guard by the tone and spirit of the "watchdogs" as I had never experienced that level of tone and words from Christians before. But then I realized, most of them are just trying their best in their own way to protect what they feel should be protected. But after reading enough of how many of them think, they really aren't watchdogs as in trained watch dogs like Doberman pinschers, but are more like little barking poodles. I like poodles actually. But the tiny ones sure can be mean and bark loudly and bare their fangs at anyone who doesn't live in their home. We owned a poodle growing up, so I have seen how you could have your best friend over and even relatives over, but the poodle didn't like anyone they were unfamiliar with. Poodles would then bark and growl in the way little poodles do even at friends and family members. It seems that many of the "watchdogs" out there, are like the poodle where they growl and bark at anything that is unfamiliar to them - even if it is the best friends or other family members of the family they live with. The poodle has good intentions, but anyone different and unfamiliar that isn't in their particular world or way of thinking gets barked and growled at. 

I do always want to listen and be open to seeing if there is any truth to critics. I need people to be holding me accountable to any teaching or writing I do. I think that comes best in the context of relationships and people you trust and respect and actually know what you are doing and aren't speculating from the outside. So I have people who do say things or ask questions that I trust and listen to them. I don't personally agree with everything under the "emerging" or "emergent" label - as there is diversity and I try to be clear about my personal beliefs which may differ from others. So we need "watchdogs" (so to speak) but ones who are trained and understand what they really should be watching out for.

Yesterday after our morning worship gathering, I had a mom introduce herself to me who shared how her son was coming to our church. She was concerned as she read all types of weird things on the web about all things "emerging" or "emergent". She trusted what she read from various watchdog types - but she shared how she never checked out for herself what was really true or not. She was simply reading the stuff and assuming they knew what they were talking about. She ended up coming to our church, seeing what we do and reading some books and ended up realizing the barks were really "poodles" inaccurately barking. You can read her own public blog post about this here.   

I am realizing, if we are truly missionaries and truly understand the way we are in a post-Christian culture today and as any missionary in a different culture does, reapproaches how they go about ministry, relationally relate to people, words and values of the culture need to be understood for knowing how best to communicate the gospel etc. - then there probably will be criticism from those who don't grasp why how we go about ministry may very likely look different than generations past in our country. It was like what Hudson Taylor experienced.

Hudson Taylor was a missionary from England who went to China in the 1800's. He was accustomed to the "English" way of evangelism, but when he got to China he realized that how you go about being a missionary there is going to look and be a lot different than evangelizing in England. So he changed his approach, he spent time with people, he even took it to the extreme of where he shaved his head, leaving a little hair which would grow into a Chinese cue [hair tied at the back of the head in a braid], and changed his normal English garb to wearing Chinese styled baggy trousers, white calico socks, satin shoes etc. He didn't just go walking into Buddhist Temples or go to Buddhists and slam Buddhism or focus on the negatives of not knowing Jesus. He relationally went in and got dirty with them, serving the people in all types of ways. The irony, is that the English missionaries who were used to evangelizing in England in a certain way - criticized Hudson Taylor since he was doing things radically different. From the outside he looked different, no proper English dress anymore, his methods were totally different. Did he teach the gospel? Absolutely. But how he did was very different and the criticism came from poodle-types. The critics had good intents and were concerned, but they just didn't understand in different cultures you need to do things differently. He eventually broke off and started China Inland Mission and trained new types of missionaries since he knew the culture there in China and understood it would be different.

I just had dinner with Erwin a couple of weeks ago when we both were in Chicago and got to spend some time together. I can say that listening to his stories is probably like it would have been listening to Hudson Taylor. We also talked about theology and I can say with full confidence that Erwin has a very high view of Scripture and it's authority and inspiration. We talked about how conservative theologically we both really are, even though our missional approach may not be conservative. But Erwin is passionate about seeing the gospel impact those outside the church and as the blog entry stated, I referred to in the beginning of this one, he said it is worth taking criticism from certain types and continue in missionary efforts so people come to faith in Jesus.

People like Erwin and Hudson Taylor inspire me to never forget about those outside the church. We must be passionate about those outside the church. I believe in the reality of hell in the afterlife and I believe in the reality of living in the Kingdom and experiencing the joy of serving Jesus and knowing Him in this life that people miss out on. One of my personal concerns about "emerging" and "emergent" things is the lack of classical evangelism quite honestly happening in many of the emerging/emergent types of churches I know of. I am not talking about the "Four Spiritual Laws" type of evangelism or raise your hand or come forward at an altar call type of evangelism necessarily (that served a wonderful purpose in a specific time period and culture). I actually met with two staff from Campus Crusade today and they were explaining how their evangelistic approach now is changing a lot which was thrilling to hear (I will have to share what they told me as it was incredibly exciting to hear). But the passion and need for evangelism still beat passionately.

I am rambling and avoiding doing some other writing - but thank you Erwin, thank you Hudson Taylor, thank you Campus Crusaders (please change your name though), thank you to the mom who did her homework.  Thank you true watchdogs as we need you and thank you poodles for your underlying motive, but please try to not be barking at those who are actually friends and family but aren't in your particular world of how you view things.

I just hope that whenever I die, I will know that I have done anything possible by the strength of the Holy Spirit who is the one who does the convicting and moving in people - and that I will be as "unorthodox" as possible in methodology and missionary emphasis in communicating the truth of the orthodox gospel to those who don't yet know Jesus. For seeing people come to a saving understanding and faith in Jesus, all the criticism, mean things written, crazy inaccurate absurdities, and the growling poodles who have good intentions - will all be worth it.