Learning to love Jesus without checking your brain at the door. Week 7 is going to continue our discussion of being an active, critical thinker in tandem with having a deep relationship with one's faith. This week will start a little sub-series of "Being an Un-Fundamentalist Christian" with "Things Jesus Didn't Say", looking at some popular beliefs about Jesus that are not actually in the Bible. This week it's about the belief that Jesus was interested in increasing the number of disciples and followers. While he did believe in sharing the Gospel (literally - the "good news"), and making disciples "of all nations", he was often very demanding of those who wanted to follow him, and quick to turn away people who were not on board with his agenda. This is not to say that all the disciples he did have always agreed, just that they were willing to go along with Jesus' program, while many others excluded themselves because they could not accept what Jesus said.
Where this becomes such a big issue is in with the obsession today with getting increased numbers in churches, amid a decades-long decline. One strategy is to double down on the old beliefs and promote them harder, while another is to water down and loosen rules and boundaries to make it easier. Is either really the way Jesus did it? Or is his way some of both, and some of neither?
Livestreamed February 24, 2022 by Pastor Lars Hammar of Lord of Grace Lutheran Church in Marana, Arizona.
