Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

We talk of the second coming — half the world has never heard of the first.
~ Oswald J. Smith

The whole world has now become mission territory, but the group that demands our attention today are those who do not associate themselves with any organised religion. These individuals are known as the “nones,” and according to the European Values Survey and the World Values Survey recording data from 2017-2020, there is a non-affiliation rate of 30.2% in Europe, and an approximately 20.7% average non-affiliation rate in non-European countries. This group is rapidly increasing especially amongst the young adult population, which is the most concerning demographic around the world.

How can we bring Jesus to others in a world that seems to be post-Christian and anti-God? First and foremost, those of us who are Christans need to have a relationship with Christ and have a deeper understanding of our own religious beliefs.

How can we bring Christ to others and teach them about our own Christian faith and about our own experience of Christ’s infinite love, if we ourselves do not truly understand who Christ is to us? We need to be able to answer such a question not simply in words, but also through our own actions, because before we can help others to encounter Christ, we must have a personal encounter with Him. We need to choose Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and be fully evangelised ourselves.

Who is Jesus to us? Where do we even begin in describing the Son of Man to others who do not yet know Him? There are a myriad of thoughts which come to mind when left to ponder such a question. Can our finite minds come up with the words that are deserving enough to even describe Him? How can we really and truly find the words to accurately describe our Lord, Jesus Christ, and what He means to us as His followers?

There are no words that will ever be satisfactory or worthy enough, but we can show that we are Christians by how we love one another. We can bring Jesus to others by allowing the light of Christ to shine through us so that we may evangelise others through faith, hope, and charity. It must begin first with ourselves before we can venture out into mission territory.

The group of “nones” grows larger and larger each day, so we too need a great army of missionary disciples that can go out into the peripheries and become disciples who can evangelise the masses. But many religiously affiliated Christians are not yet well-equipped, and are weak in their own faith.

How many of us know other Christians who are members of our Churches or ecclesiasical communities, yet claim to be “spiritual,” but not “religious”? Often Christians, although members of a religious organisation, simply do not yet have the necessary confidence and skills to go out into the highways and byways to evangelise those who are “nones”.

The way for Christians to become missionary disciples is by becoming leaders working together as one. There are many different ministries within a community of Christian believers, and often each individual ministry tends to work on its own for an individual mission. At times there is even competition among various ministries instead of working together. We are all called to do the work of Christ together, not on our own, and it is only by creating one large army of Christ’s disciples that we can join together in Jesus’s Great Commission and go and make disciples of all nations.

Evangelisation calls for us to go out to the ends of the earth proclaiming the Good News. We can only go out to evangelise others in imitation of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, if we meet people where they are in their lives with great love, as Jesus did when He walked the earth. We can follow in His footsteps by bringing others the truth in a respectful way.

We all have a God-shaped hole in our hearts, and there is nothing on this earth that can fit into that special place that was meant for God alone. We need to help those who spend their lives searching for something that they can never find to come to know and experience the love of Christ; a beautiful and authentic love that captivates our hearts, minds, and souls.

There is no life without Christ. He is our beacon of light in any darkness, and it is in our Christian faith where Jesus never abandons us. When we receive the love of Christ by coming to Him, it is then and only then that we can venture out into mission territory.

Our hearts must be filled with zeal and set on fire with the Holy Spirit, Who will prepare our hearts and give us the words that will help to bring others to Him. It is by having a deep relationship with Christ, and by the example of our lives that we will help others to see how much God loves them, and that He patiently waits for them to have a relationship with Him too.

[Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash]