Kingdom Of Converts

I am not quite sure exactly what the percentage is, reputable statistics are hard to come by. However, there is a crazy insane number floating around out there that 80% of the American population considers themselves to be Christian. I go to the mall take a look around and wonder, by what standard do they gauge themselves?

Thank you seeker sensitive church models. This concept that every Sunday is evangelism Sunday has developed a Kingdom of converts. The model of the Bible lays out Sunday as the Lord's Day. A day when all those who put their trust in God come together to worship God and remember. It is a day in which those who are called can be challenged and encouraged. If the Church is functionally properly and they are learning and being challenged on Sundays evangelism will happen all throughout the week and not just Sunday when the staff creates an emotional charged atmosphere that drips with style and is sucked dry of substance.

I am tired of people calling themselves Christian, because in our current culture it it has lost a lot of meaning. For all we know Britney Spears calls herself a Christian. Disciple is a label that will make people go uh! Matthew 28:18-20 doesn't charge us to go into all the world and make converts of people. We are charged to make "disciples of all nations." Jesus told the Pharisees that they go from one end of the earth to the other to find converts and when they find them they make them "twice as much a son of hell" (Matthew 23:15).

I am not getting all extreme here and saying that there are only two or three real Christians out there, or that the church I go to is the only good church left. I am not saying that those seeker sensitive churches are completely filled with flimsily converts only. I am not saying that the day you decide to walk in relationship with Jesus Christ you have to give up your home to become a missionary. The Christian life is a process in which we must fail forward and grow day by day, step by step. I don't like to cut my nose off despite my face and overlook the good a person or church is doing just because I disagree with their philosophy of ministry.

However, it is time we wake up and realize that the Church is becoming a Kingdom of Converts rather than a Kingdom of Disciples. Disciples are people who learn from Jesus and follow Jesus. Disciples stand out from the world rather than blend in. Disciples don't just check off Christian on a survey they exemplify it in how they live. The scariest thing of all is that the name Christian could loose all meaning, and that is exactly what will happen if 100% of the population starts considering themselves Christian. What will the true remnant call themselves then? How will the true one be distinguished from the fake? It won't be by name but it will be by action.

So, would the real Christian please stand up and stand out as different from the world you live in. Please shape the culture rather than be shaped by it. Be Christian and not just converts. Stand for all that Christ has called you to stand for and yes, you need to be prepared that it may cost you everything you have and if that is too much...the convert line is on the left (Matthew 25:41-46). For all those on the right, let's reclaim the name Christian because it means something.