Last night there was a special on CBS called "The Lord's Bootcamp." It was a documentary on 3 teenagers as they attended this summer program called The Lord's Bootcamp, which was intended to prepare them for missions. I only caught the last half of it, but I can't say that I was impressed. It doesn't surprise me to see that the media made these teenagers look a bit like nutjobs, but I think what bothered me the most was the approach of one of the teens. In this particular mission, the teens were trying to give a survey to people at a county fair in hopes to stir up a conversation about faith. However, this 13 year old girl was telling people they were going to hell without Jesus and that they should accept Him right now. True? Yes. Effective? Probably not. This girl, and this mission had no intention of listening to someone's story and really walking with them. At one point, she got into a conversation with a Mormon girl and her mom and essentially told them they were wrong in the 3 minute conversation and then proceeded to push the girl into accepting Christ as her savior, never stopping to ask the girl any questions about who she was or about her story. And then when the girl walked away, with a pamphlet in her hand (which probably ended up in the next trash bin), this 13 year old turned, pumped her fist and said, "I got another one." As if she was hunting and just shot another deer.
What makes me so frustrated about this is that it was broadcast on national television, where many people were able to reinforce their false ideas of what it means to be a Christian and share faith with others.
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the aname of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." I really do believe in order to make a disciple and to teach them what God says in his word requires relationship. It requires more than a survey and someone pushing Jesus on someone else. Jesus never pushed himself on anyone. He simply was who he was, loved as he loved, and shared truth with the people around him. He offered himself up as a servant.
Why can't we do it the way Jesus did? Why can't we just walk alongside and serve our neighbors and share with them as we walk why we are serving? Why can't we simply love?
I want to challenge anyone reading this in regards to two things. If you are a Christ follower, how do you share with others? Are you able to love them into the kingdom? And if you are not...what is your idea of a Christ follower? How has that been reinforced and does it look anything like Jesus?
