Some believers don’t have any non-Christian mates, and that’s a tragedy, says Carl Beech.
I’ve been thinking a great deal over the years about the way we communicate the ‘good news’ about Jesus to men. We wonder why we see so few men becoming followers of Jesus but fail to look effectively and analytically at the message we are communicating, the way we are communicating it and who we are communicating it to.
So, here are a few thoughts about telling ordinary men about Jesus. I strongly believe that the church is failing to operate behind enemy lines. As far as I can see, the UK church is rarely in the front line trenches of proclamation and hardly ever behind enemy lines. Check this very simple diagram out:
Dave (mk 1) is not a Christian. He doesn’t care about what you believe unless he’s had a couple of beers. He is, after all, like most men, an expert on everything already. Sure, he likes to row with you in the pub but for the most part he doesn’t really care about church stuff and it’s not at the top of his list of hot topics to discuss with his mates. Working class Dave wrote the church off years ago.
So who is Dave? Well, Dave drinks beer, loves football (West Ham of course) and thinks that Jeremy Clarkson (if you don’t know who he is, you need to get out more!) should be Prime Minister. He has a skilled manual labour job, only goes to church when someone gets married, drops dead or throws water on their kid’s head before having a few beers and a roast dinner. He doesn’t care about atheism, creationism or any other ‘ism’. He’s a bloke.
Then there’s Dave (mk II). Dave is a full on fired-up follower of Jesus. He prays, tithes, has a quiet time and feels guilty when he doesn’t. He goes to the midweek prayer meeting and a home group. He smiles at the little kids in the church and helps out sometimes at crèche. He happily sits through long sermons and sings emotional songs to a man. He has embraced ‘churchianity’ and Christianity. He is Dave redeemed, tamed and cleaned up.
There is, however, a massive problem. Most church evangelism starts where the church is on the diagram; way too far along the scale of belief. To go on an Alpha course, you need to be prepared to sit and have a meal with a stranger, attend a structured ten-week course, go on a Holy Spirit weekend and share your feelings. Alpha is amazing. But to attend you have to be prepared to want the conversation and be fairly committed to seeing it through. You’ve also got to be able to work through some real church sub-culture stuff and get the jargon. You’ve also got to filter a message that says you’re needy and need a saviour.
Basically, it’s not going to happen, is it? Or if it does, it’s rare. Sure, someone will write to me and tell me how Dave came through but it’s not happening in massive numbers is it?
The church needs to learn how to operate in the realm and world of Dave (mk 1) – and that is behind enemy lines. We have to learn how to move a bloke along the scale of belief. Get a debate going with Dave that’s not beer fuelled and you’ve won a skirmish behind the lines. He accepts an offer of prayer and you’ve neutralised a defensive shield. Get him to your church blokes’ clay pigeon shoot and bonfire and you’ve taken an enemy position out.
Firstly, of course, you’ve got to get behind enemy lines and to do that you’ve actually got to make some mates who aren’t followers of Jesus.
I kid you not when I tell you that I know evangelists who haven’t got any mates who aren’t followers of Jesus. So let’s get out there.
The UK church is swamped just now with loads of political and social justice activity. I’m deeply involved in some of this activity.
It’s all good stuff but I appeal to you that we mustn’t lose proclamation. As far as I’m concerned, the biggest injustice of all is that people die without knowing Jesus.
Carl Beech is Director of Christian Vision for Men.