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How Responsive is Your Church?

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We talk about the church needing to adapt to the world around us and too often that results in compromise. Yet, the Apostle Paul did say, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:19-22). This was the same person God used to write, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.” We must therefore conclude that his words in 1 Corinthians 9 cannot mean conformity. Adapting to the world around us cannot mean rewriting God’s moral code or redefining truth. Perhaps “responsive” would be a better word for us to use.

An Illustration of Being Responsive

Responsive Web DesignIn today’s world people access the Internet through a variety of means — PCs (some with large screen monitors), laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Holding a tablet or smartphone horizontally or vertically can result in a different view of a website. In the past webmasters had to design completely different sites to adapt to the varying platforms. In recent years, however, code has been written and widely accepted that enables the same site to respond to the different sizes. It’s called responsive web design.

The same exact content can be viewed on each device. The media queries and style sheets cause it to lay out differently to suit the medium.

Ministry Tools Resource Center has been working at redesigning the MinTools.com, TrainChurchLeaders.com, and TrainBibleTeachers.com sites to be responsive. This task caused me to think about the parallels for the church in a constantly changing world.

What Does it Mean for the Church to be Responsive

In the Church we have a message that doesn’t change and a mission to fulfill.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb. 3:8)

To stay true to Him, we cannot adapt to the world around us in any way that deviates from the truth of who He is, in the fullness of who He is, and from the full authority that is His.

As the world around us changes, the Church does not have to lose its place as the salt and light in it by becoming irrelevant or by conforming to the world. But, to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:18-20), we need to reach people where they are. How? — By being responsive.

We maintain the same message wherever we are but become responsive in our methodology, form, and structure. We consider how we can relate to people where they are in ways they can understand, fulfilling our purpose to love them but to always first and foremost love the Lord our God — responding to people in ways that do not adulterate our love for Him.

Results of a Non-Responsive Church

I was recently sharing about the task of making the web sites responsive with someone and she said, “We were just talking about why some websites look okay in mobile and others don’t.” She found it frustrating when sites didn’t work well in her medium.

— Similarly, people are becoming more and more frustrated with the Church that does not fit into today’s world.

To be sure, some expect the church to conform to the ways and opinions of the world or else be pegged as intolerant and out of touch. Being misunderstood isn’t new. Think of Jesus when He lived on this earth. Yet, Jesus continued to effectively make disciples. Perhaps it was because He was responsive. He met people where they were without compromising who He was.

How to be Responsive as a Church

Developing a responsive website requires the use of certain code and taking the time and effort to redesign the site with tweaks along the way. As mentioned earlier, this code was just made available in recent years. The Church, however, has always had the right code to be responsive which is God’s Word with God Himself as our standard.

Our problem has been that through the ages, the Church hasn’t always stayed true. We have interpreted Scripture and characterized God through the lens of our own experience, desires, or personal bents rather than letting Scripture interpret itself. As a result churches often either become dogmatic on that which God has not set up as absolute or wavering on that which He has established as fixed. Is it any wonder people are confused or frustrated with the Church?

  1. Let’s determine what are the negotiables and non-negotiables for the Church so we stay true to who HE is and who He wants us to be.
  1. Let’s think creatively about how we can take that same non-negotiable message and present it in ways that are going to meet people where they are.
  1. Let’s be willing to invest the time and effort into making the changes and not fall back on “but we’ve always done it that way.”
  1. Let’s always use God and His Word as the standard, not our experience or expediency or the expectations of others.
  1. Let’s trust God to guide us rather than simply following after what other churches are doing or what seems right to us. (Prov. 3:5-6)

Now, let’s makes sure we get this right: Being responsive doesn’t mean we move in the same direction as our society, accepting and approving what the world says is right. Being responsive does not mean compromising truth or disregarding what God views as holy and right. Being responsive is learning how to relate to people in a world that accepts immorality as normal and relativism as the standard while we, at the same time, stay aligned to God’s Word. How can we love people in today’s world without compromise? Figure that out and we can get back to our purpose to love God with all of who we are and to love people as well as fulfilling our mission to go and make fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

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