Our families are under attack.  In New Hanover County alone there are 16 divorces per week and 4,300 adults are on the road to divorce, already living separate from their spouse.  Additionally, there are 6,300 single-parent households. 

Our Children are in trouble.  On average, one-half of high school students have already had sex and one-third have drunk alcohol in the last 30 days (one-half of those getting drunk).  Shockingly, 1 out of every 8 high school students has thought about suicide. 

These are just a few examples of the ways people in our community are hurting, broken and in need of hope.  Due to the changing culture and the busyness of life, the church is losing influence and becoming increasingly segregated from its community.  As a result of this separation, the church is losing the opportunity to speak into the lives of people who desperately need hope.  

As we have wrestled with this problem and prayed for direction, God has answered with a clear vision; take church to the unchurched.  The core of this vision is for authentic disciples (the church) to be intentionally involved in the lives of people in our community. 

We envision a church that daily lives life within the community.  Instead of forming a church that simply reaches out to the community, we want to be a church that is immersed in the community.  As the lives of Christians touch the lives of the unchurched, an impact zone is formed.  These impact zones will allow trusting relationships to form, providing the opportunity for us to gain influence with the unchurched.

Now I am a church planter in the midst of a culture that generally responds to church the same way as I did as a kid.  Almost every week I have a conversation in which the person feels compelled to tell me why they were not at church on Sunday (thankfully most of these conversations are with people who attend other churches).  One lady went as far to say that she could not come to church because the bathrooms don’t offer enough privacy and she suffers with irritable bowel syndrome! 

Why?  Why do people go to such great lengths to make excuses for not being more involved in their church?  It would be better if they would just be honest and get to the real reason; church can be boring, irrelevant, and unchanging. 

Over the last year as our team has planned the start of a new church we have perpetually asked what is going to take for Impact Church to be different.  When I read the scripture I don’t see Jesus having the same problem.  Everywhere Jesus went people flocked to Him.  To so many Jesus was irresistible.  They were drawn to Him for so many reasons but mainly because He was the living Son of God.  

Here is the tension.  Isn’t the church supposed to be a reflection of Jesus (Matthew 5:14-16).  So if Jesus was irresistible to so many why is it that many churches are very resistible? 

What would be different if the church would allow the light of Christ to shine…would people flock to church like they flocked to Jesus?

“of course I love people that don’t know God.  I have given my life to full time ministry.  I am a pastor that is focused on leading a congregation to take church to the unchurched.  I consistently preach on evangelism.”

But the more I thought about the question, the more I was reminded and convicted.  Being a pastor, preaching about evangelism, or even leading a church in a missional strategy is completely different than loving lost people.  Loving people far from God requires loving when it is hard to love; it requires loving even when it’s messy.  I have seen it so many times; Christians say they love the lost, but when they are faced with the baggage that comes with a life that is far from God they are offended and usually withdraw.  As I think about this response, I am cut to the heart.  Jesus desires that we truly love and engage the people who need it the most.

Romans 9:2-3 came to mind, Paul writes, “ I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.”  Paul valued his relationship with Jesus more than anything else, there was nothing more important.  But as an expression of his heart and love for the lost, he admitted that he would give that up (if it were possible) if only his brothers could be saved.

I pray that my life and ministry would be characterized by that kind of sacrificial love for those that are far from God!