How do you relate to those who “seek God” (Acts 15:17 and Acts 17:27)? I find Christians and their churches fall into four categories. Where does our church fall? What about your Life Group fall? How about you?
Seeker-Hostile. Churches and individuals in this mindset would say that individual believers must be kind to non-believers and look for ways to share the gospel. But they would insist that corporate life of the church is no place to involve a non-believer. Therefore, the study topics, conversations, and even jokes in the Bible study classes or worship services create an environment that is unfriendly to a seeker’s questions or objections.
Seeker-Indifferent. Church groups with this mindset are indifferent to the concerns and questions that non-believers have of the faith. They believe the job of the church is simply to provide Bible studies and activities that meet the needs of believers. Churches that are seeker-indifferent may have evangelistic activities and support mission causes, and they may encourage the individual members to witness to non-believers. But it simply doesn’t occur to these churches that they have a responsibility to engage the concerns and questions of spiritual explorers. I believe most churches and Christians fall into this category.
Seeker-Sensitive. Church groups with this mindset focus on building believers while connecting with the seekers that believers bring with them. They believe the church exists to build a strong community of believers, but they pursue this goal with sensitivity to non-believers who have begun to be attracted to the faith through their friendship with believers.
Seeker-Targeted. Church groups with this mindset direct everything they do toward reaching the non-believing world with the gospel. The music, the sermon topics, and the approach to Bible-study is all done with the aim of catching the attention of non-believers and persuading them to embrace the gospel truth.
Of the four labels as I’ve defined them, we need to be seeker-sensitive. At Hillcrest, everything we do is about building believers while also connecting with earnest seekers that believers bring with them.
As one of our slogans puts it: We’re a place where people find and follow Jesus together.
Let’s pray that God is glorified as we pursue this goal!
Tom
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