In or Out

Recently I listened to pastor who was asked whether or not he preached toward "seekers" or "believers". He replied...."I preach to humans".

Christians for generations have gone to remarkable lengths to determine who's in and who's out. In the opening chapter of UnChristian the author addresses how we often use rather derogatory labels in the process of delineating those that follow Christ and those that don't. Christians use terms like "pagans", or "the lost", and worse, which simply deepen an already growing divide between those in the church and those outside of the church. Even terms like "non-christians" or "unbelievers" are rather inadequate as they define someone by what they are not and may not necessarily be true of those outside the church. In turn, this labeling undermines our ability to see people as human beings and individuals.

As I think about this concept, I too find myself wanting to label those outside the church. At Real Life, we call them "far from God", and in all honesty, I'm not entirely comfortable with that term either as there are people who are not part of a church that act far more godly than some people on the inside.

When I look at Jesus, I see him breaking down the labels and delineations in his society. For the most part he addresses people not as "in" or "out", but as humans. There are a few occasions where He clearly draws a line, but I don't necessarily think he did it as an example for us to follow. He is God after all. He is the only one who has that right.