I want to start off 2021 by letting you know that I am praying for you. I am praying that you are reading through the New Testament with us during our Grounded initiative. Also, I am praying that you are part of a virtual transformation group to discuss God’s Word with others. I think God’s Word is something that we need more of this year!
Besides God’s Word, I’d love to pose a question to you: What is something else that we need more of in 2021?
I think there are a lot of pretty good answers. I bet a lot of you thought we need more vaccines, and you’re not wrong! However, our staff just finished reading a book together that gave me a different perspective on what we need more of in 2021. That book, Christians in the Age of Outrage, shares some challenging statistics as the author, Ed Stetzer, encourages the church to be a positive influence in our increasingly divided culture. The final chapter of the book begins with these two alarming statistics:
- Only 14% of people with no friendships with evangelical Christians describe Christians with one or more of these positive descriptors: compassionate, principled, charitable, and/or ethical.
- Only 46% of people who have friendships with an evangelical Christian describe evangelicals with one or more of these same positive descriptors.
What does that mean? Simply put, the majority of lost people don’t see Christians as being kind. Over 80% of lost people who don’t have a friendship with a Christian don’t see us as being kind. And, maybe even more alarming is the fact that over 50% of lost people who have a friendship with a Christian still don’t see us as being kind. That leads me to what I think we need more of in our country this year: kindness!
It breaks my heart that the majority of lost people, even those who have a friendship with an evangelical Christian, don’t see believers as being compassionate or charitable. We know that Scripture tells us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance! I think that His church showing kindness to others could make a huge difference in 2021.
We all know that last year was incredibly challenging. And while there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, it is still going to be quite some time before this pandemic is behind us. So what can we do in the midst of this storm? I think we can start by simply committing to being kind to others around us.
For my family, one of our goals for 2021 is to do six different “random acts of kindness” during this year. We want to set aside specific times where we will intentionally be kind to our neighbors and our community.
We know that Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. What do you think our church can do this year to show God’s love for others and to demonstrate kindness to the lost world around us? It’s my prayer that our church will be full of kindness this year!
In Him,
Pastor Zach