In my home country of Great Britain 90 per cent of the population do not attend church. For them church is irrelevant; they do not see how it meets the needs of the nineties. Most of the First World faces the same problem. How do you reach secular people for Christ?
I have several friends who are good moral people but who think religion is not for intellectually honest minds. From their perspective they see Christians living lives of quiet desperation, solving the problems of life no better or no worse than the non-Christian. Unfortunately, for many Christians and—Adventists in particular—form too often takes precedence over function, being right is more important than being loving, facts become more important than feelings, doctrine takes precedence over relationships.
Jon Paulien in a just-published book, Present Truth in the Real World (Pacific Press Pub. Assn.), seeks to show how to meet felt needs of secular people. He particularly stresses one of the great weaknesses of religion—the uncanny ability to answer questions most people are not asking. While this book is written from the perspective of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, its thesis and practical suggestions apply to anyone trying to take the gospel to secular people.
Paulien, a professor of New Testament at Andrews University, seems a most unlikely candidate to write a book on reaching the secular mind. But this book contains no dry theory. It brims over with anecdotes and suggestions for communicating the gospel in relevant dress. He shares his own failures and successes in trying to bring Jesus Christ to those who see Him as irrelevant.
Paulien defines the secular person as one who is contingent, autonomous, relative, and temporary (pp. 43-51). Secular people have become secular because of science, pluralism, or privatization (pp. 53-57). They are reached mainly one-on-one (p. 164).
If you are looking for a book that lays out a simple one, two, three for evangelizing secular people, you will be disappointed. Paulien says, "We need to en courage a multiplicity of ministries. Secular people are as diverse as snowflakes. They are not normally reached in large groups" (ibid., p. 164). Those who rely on mass public evangelism will be disappointed. Paulien then points out another truth that will disappoint those who believe in planning from the top down: "The only way, therefore, to counter the pluralism of society is with the pluralism of the Holy Spirit, which is an explosion of all kinds of outreach ministries em powered by the Spirit. This will not come from central planning, but from the members discovering the unique roles God has developed for each person. I am encouraged, therefore, by the spiritual gifts movement in our church. ... No two people are gifted in exactly the same way. If secular people are as diverse as snowflakes, we need a missionary force that is as diverse as snowflakes" (ibid.).
Personal experience
Paulien then illustrates his point by telling the experience of his own parents. They tried to build a German-oriented church in New York by traditional ways such as Bible studies, only to see the church dwindle down to some 20 members. Then his parents decided to let their gifts flow naturally. His mother loves the kitchen and finally discovered that could be her ministry as well. Paulien describes what happened: "I came home from Andrews one day, walked in the door, and my mother said, I'd like you to meet your new brother!' He was sitting in the living room, bare to the waist, with a gold chain around his neck and a big gold medallion on his chest. This was going to be an interesting brother! I soon learned of his homosexual orientation. He lived next door, and he would come over for hours at a time and watch my mother do the housework. I don't know what the psychological dynamic was, but he absolutely adored my mother as she opened her life to him" (p. 165).
"I found out that my mother had also developed a close relationship with some Buddhist girls who were homosexually orientated. Buddhists! I thought to my self, What has happened to my conservative Adventist parents? One Sabbath there were 25 young people home for lunch. Twelve were church members, and 13 were not" (pp. 165, 166).
Paulien reports that when his parents left that city, there were nearly 100 young people in that church. Love wins most arguments.
Fortress and salt
One point stands out above all others: if you are to reach secular people, you must spend much time with them. Jesus said Christians must live as salt in the world. Unfortunately, because we are afraid that we might be contaminated by the world, we withdraw into fortress-type enclaves and mentalities. But if the salt does not penetrate and permeate the food, it will not be effective. While Romans 12:2 admonishes us not to be corrupted by the world, 1 Corinthians 9:22 says that we must be come all things to all people in order that we might win some. Where do we find the balance? This book will help.
