In the evangelical Christian world, there is a common statement, “bringing people to Jesus.”
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-12 NIV
Go (per Jesus, Matthew 28:19) and bring (evangelical statement) seem a bit different to me.
That “bringing people to Jesus” usually comes from a missionary perspective, or from those speaking about missions, puzzles me further. The “going” is thus transformed into bringing.
Bringing Jesus To People
Why don’t we say, “bringing Jesus to people?” Truly, foreign missions have been doing exactly that for generations, yet we still say, “bringing people to Jesus.”
Does it matter? I think it does.
For those entrenched in the four walls of the Western traditional model (of whatever tradition/denomination, not just the evangelicals), bringing implies (or is inferred) to bring people into “the fold”. However, what we are seeing now in the culture is that bringing people in isn’t working so well.
Instead, we are having to engage people where they’re at. This does include digital (hence Nazarene.Digital), but it also includes Fresh Expressions and a myriad of other initiatives that are seeking to bring people to Jesus.
As much good as programs such as Upward (soccer, basketball, cheer) have done in much the same vein, there is still more work to be done. Many of the Upward programs are about bringing people into churches, not bringing Jesus to people. A number of Upward programs (granted, this is anecdotal) are successful programs, but are held by churches that are not experiencing growth (numbers and baptisms).
I have not answers, just an issue with a long-held and long-used phrase that needs to be re-thought and perhaps tossed.
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