Posted by Helen on: 06.28.2008 /
Jeremy has an interesting post up about his Buddhist friend John’s response to a Christian festival.
John was helping Jeremy demonstrate Chinese Juggling Sticks at the event. Jeremy was curious about John’s reactions throughout the event. Here’s John’s first comment along with Jeremy’s thoughts
As soon as [John] showed up, the first thing he said was, “I didn’t realize this was only for Christians. Am I welcome here?” Ironically, this was an “evangelistic” event, but every single person I talked to was already attending a church somewhere, while John, the Buddhist, immediately felt unwelcome. I think it had something to do with all the Christian music blaring everywhere, the Christian symbols on every square inch, and everybody wearing Christian t-shirts.
John also commented on the music and that the bottled water cost $4. Check out Jeremy’s post to see the rest of John’s comments.
Jeremy concludes
Have you ever tried so hard to do something for people who are not Christians, only to find out that only Christians come, and those few non-Christians who do come don’t stick around long? Maybe you should step back and take a look at what you are doing and how it might look to someone who has not grown up in the church. It truly is a bewildering spectacle.
Sounds like good advice to me!
Comment by: Jim Henderson
1great feedback
Comment by: Randy
2Beautiful. We suggest looking at your church services the same way. Or just pay your non-Christian friends to come and do a church survey (see the survey here: http://doableevangelism.com/downloads/ and then scroll to the bottom of the page).
I helped put on a Luis Palau Festival in our town. Same exact reaction from the very few non-Christians who were there (I brought a handful myself). Scary. Of course over 3300 people professed faith in Christ that weekend, including most of the staff at my church and almost all of our elders (they all filled out the card at the end and misunderstood some directions regarding a free CD…which happened en mass, I might add).
Thanks for sharing this story. It hurts, but we need to hear it.
Comment by: Randy
3OMG…I just read the original story and discovered that the event in question was another LUIS PALAU festival! Is my face red?
Wow. I really didn’t know that until after I had posted my experience…weird.
Comment by: Helen
4Randy, I’m glad to hear that your church staff and elders got saved at an evangelistic event. From what I’ve heard, it’s best if church leaders are Christians :)
Comment by: Randy
5Yeah…I’m not so sure that’s true anymore, H.
Comment by: no offense
6I guess we all know that the bride of Christ has a few warts.
I hope this wasn’t the first time anyone here had that realization!
But what else do you expect when the Church is a place for people to affirm their cultural heritage (’God Bless America’ and all that!), as opposed to a deeply subversive community who, by their very existence, challenges the status quo of the surrounding culture?
I mean heck! Most people in Churches don’t even tithe (I think the stat is 5-10%) so you can’t really expect Churches to be Christian in any sense of the word!!! Most Churches are full of people paying homage to culture not Jesus. Just ask the Sudanese Christians, or the Chinese Christians, or the Palestinian Christians, or Israeli Christians, or Christians in 1st Century Rome… etc.