How an Atheist ministered to me…

You ever thought about what goes through the minds of some people?

As christian leaders, this is the question.  This has to be “the question.”  We have to evaluate our ministry based upon this question. 

When someone walks through the doors of our church it is our job to remove as many obstacles as we can between that person and them having an encounter with God.  There is much about what we do as Christians that makes no sense to an unbeliever.  There is frankly much that we do in church that makes no sense to unbelievers.  We have to ask ourselves, as we look at what we do, what would an unbeliever think?  Would this be an obstacle to them or would this help them encounter Jesus. 

I believe a sign of maturity is when our attention turns from ourselves and how we want it in our churches to the needs of others, especially unbelievers.  Paul told the church in Colossee to be wise in how they act toward those outside the faith.  Colossians 4:5  He also tells us that we need to be mindful of the needs of others. Philippians 2:4  We have to ask ourselves what the needs of unbelievers are when we are ministering to them.  What goes through their minds?  If we are wise this will affect how we do what we do.

Some food for thought.  How an Atheist ministered to me…  Take a look at this little book by Jim Henderson & Matt Casper called “Jim & Casper Go To Church.” Jim is a Christian / retired pastor and Casper is an Atheist.  They team up and travel the US visiting 12 well known Churches documenting their experiences at and their reactions to each one.  This is an easy and interesting read.  It will cause you to take a look at what we do in our western Christian Churches and if we really know what is on the minds of those who we say we want to reach with the love of Jesus.   Read this book!