"Unchurched"? May I Please Have the Definition?

There is a common idea around now that says that the church (as in the church service) must be for the unchurched. Many surveys have been taken and many books and blogs are written about this very subject, "How do we reach the unchurched?" Unchurched is new language. (My spell check in google docs keeps underlining it.) It used to be the church's mission was, "How do we reach lost sinners?" Now, "sinners" is changed to, "unchurched". If we stuck with the Biblical language of "sinners" then we would know we couldn't survey a sinner as to what they would want in a church service because words have meanings. Sinner means transgressor of the law. A sinner would be a breaker of God's law... a lawbreaker. So a person who is breaking God's law would be in rebellion against God. The Bible puts it like this... when we are in that sinful, carnal state...Romans 8:7 we are hostile to God and not subject to the law of God nor can be! So why in the world would we ask that person what they want in a church service? It can only be rebellion! I don't say this to be harsh or judgmental, it's how the language defines itself. It's not subject to my interpretation, it says what it says.

Let's define the word "church" and see if we can define "unchurched" from that. A modern definition of church is a body of Christian believers. The Greek word, from the original language of the New Testament, is Ekklesia, meaning "the called out ones". So from the modern and original language we can conclude that church means people who believe in Christ and have been called out [from the world]. So to define "unchurched" by putting the prefix 'un' before the word 'church' makes that word a body of not or non believers in Christ. So, even when you define this new word of unchurched correctly, again with no judgment or opinion, just letting the words speak for themselves, you can conclude that the unchurched is not who you should be asking how they want a church service to be. The unchurched would want non-church or not church. And that's exactly what they get... so call it something else.


Jesus defined how we were to reach lost sinners. He said (Matt. 28:19,20) GO make disciples of all nations. Go meaning to leave a place. You go out of (leave) your assembly or your church building and you go to all nations and teach them about repentance and faith in Christ. You do not prostitute the church to be friends with the world (James 4:4) because you make yourself the enemy of God. There is one Seeker that we should be sensitive to and that's the Father (John 4:23). If we want to figure out how to reach the "unchurched" who clearly are not seeking God (Romans 3:11) we'd better ask the One who died for the Church.

What a Gospel!

The following article is copied by permission from Wretched Radio's July 2009 Newsletter. The article is written by Todd Friel. http://www.wretchedradio.com/

Warning Ditch Ahead!

Get ready for whiplash. If history is any barometer, it appears we are headed for a ditch.

Consider this. The church in the middle ages had grown corrupt due to work righteousness (among other things). The Reformers proclaimed, "We are saved by grace alone!" That was good, but it was not long before the church fell into the ditch of grace abuse.

Because of that ditch, in the 19th century, the church fell into another ditch, liberalism.

But a movement sprang up in the 20th century to yank us out of the liberal ditch and voile', they fell into the ditch of fundamentalist legalism and worldly separation.

Hello 1940's. Meet evangelicalism: the movement that was (sort of) conservative but decidedly engaged in the world.

Great idea, but we fell into the ditch of Seeker Sensitivity. In response to fundamentalist disengagement, we decided to not only engage the world, but bring the world into the church. Oops. Another ditch.

That brings us to today's growing movement that has no title: conservative, Puritan loving, engaged in the world, personal regeneration, Jesus lovers. Even Time Magazine recognized this movement as the third most influential spiritual trend of this decade.

This is a wonderful sign, but let's take a moment and ask, "Will this be the first movement that does not have a whiplash counter movement?" I doubt it. The question of course is, "What will that counter movement look like?"

I suspect it will be a counter to either our strengths or weaknesses.

What are the movement's s strengths and what does a potential counter look like?

1. Biblical literalism. The counter attack could be, "Legalism."

2. Personal regeneration. The counter attack might be, "Legalism."

3. Personal holiness. The counter assault will be, "Legalism."

What are the movement's weaknesses and what does a potential counter look like?

1. Theological arrogance. The counter attack could be, "Liberalism."

2. Lack of love. The counter attack might be, "Liberalism."

3. Lack of assurance. The counter assault might be, "Liberalism."

What a shocker! A counter movement will likely fall into one of the two ditches that EVERY movement has fallen: Legalism or Liberalism.

This matters on a universal church level and on a personal level. If we are not mindful of these potential ditches, a counter movement will fall into a pit...or we will.

Let's rejoice that God is raising up a conservative movement. But let us also be cautious that we don't fall into a ditch. Whiplash is a terrible thing.