The Rich Young Rulers of Orange County.Morgan Murray, guest blogger at It Takes A Church and a pastor in San Juan Capistrano, CA, has some interesting thoughts on churches reaching out to young professionals based on the story of the Rich Young Ruler:
In a recent conversation with a colleague, I said that I believed there was no “silver bullet” for the outreach-to-young-families problem. “Oh, there is a silver bullet, but you don’t want to use it,” he replied. “The pastors who attract these young families do something we must not do. They pander to them.” I was taken aback. Do we really have to pander to young professionals in order to draw them into Christian community?
Fortunately, we know that Jesus dealt with this situation firsthand. All three synoptic gospels record Jesus’ encounter with a man who has come to be known as the Rich Young Ruler. Perhaps the most memorable part of the story comes when Jesus instructs the man to sell everything he has and then “follow me.” We can almost see the shocked look on the man’s face as he “went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” Jesus extends an invitation; the young man rejects it. Even though Jesus desires to see this young man become part of the new community he is creating, Jesus lets the man walk away. He does not run after him. He does not modify the instruction. He does not pander.
This wisdom, of course, runs counter to the way that many churches try to bring young professionals into their fold. I can see the struggle of how to be relevant yet faithful to Scripture in my own church, and I look forward to the next installments of this series.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 11, 2005 at 12:57 PM.
