How to Know If Your Community Is Really "Just Not That Into You"
You have likely read the data. Our culture is spiritually open (74% of the American population wants to grow spiritually). The majority of our population (80%) believe there is a spiritual or supernatural dimension to the world. Yet, the vast majority of Western churches (80-85%) are stagnant or declining. Where is the disconnect?
At an event in the fall of 2021, I heard David Kinnamon, Barna President, offer the following perspective, “They’re just not that into you!” He was referencing the number of people who became disengaged from the life of the church post-COVID. Of course he was using the line from the 2004 book and the 2009 movie with the same title, He’s Just Not That Into You. The book was inspired by an episode of Sex and the City. In the 2003 episode, “Pick-A-Little, Talk-a-Little, Jack Berger explained to Miranda that her date was “just not that into you” since her date declined the invitation to her apartment.
While the line has become famous, no one wants to be the church whose community is just not that into them. Is your community into your church? Do you know? Have you asked? Likely, if your church is stagnate or in decline, your community may just not be into you.
Gabriel Salguero, President of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, says sometimes the church is responding to the questions of the 70’s and 80’s. “We have to take more of a listening posture. We can no longer answer the questions no one is asking.”
Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, CEO and Co-Founder of Skinner Leadership Institute, reports that our cultural landscape sees a God that is hateful and divisive and a church that is at odds. “They see a Jesus who is not accepting. It turns them off. That’s the problem we are having.”
Walter Kim, President of the National Association of Evangelicals, says, “There is malformation in the way that we carry ourselves as followers of Jesus.” He suggests we need to question how we engage as much as what we want to say.
Bishop Vashti McKenzie, National Council of Churches, US, suggests there is a fresh, new way that we could present Christ differently for newer and younger generations. McKenzie suggests that connecting Christ to the reality of what people are going through today is essential.
Dr. Crawford Loritts, Founder & President of Beyond Our Generation, explains, “There needs to be more discussion about how we mobilize and train people to have confidence in sharing their faith in such a way that people see a clear pathway between He gets us to me trusting and receiving Him.”
These five experts offered their thoughts in Sharing the Gospel in Our Current Day and Age.
How is your church sharing the gospel in meaningful and effective ways with our spiritually open culture who wants to grow in their spirituality? Gather your leaders and listen to the short six-minute overview. Or perhaps, dip deeper and listen to their individual interviews and review their resources. What did you learn from these experts? What resonates with you as a church leader? What can you take from this panel and begin to apply in your context - personally and as a congregation? The world is starving for hope, connection, and finding meaning for their life. How will you no longer be the one who the community is “just not that into you” and instead become the light and hope for our hurting, starving world?
