Evaluating 40 Days of Community

Some time ago, I received an email from Rev. Chris Currey in Ontario on this topic and I thought it was so good and relevant that I got permission from him to post it on my God's BMW blog here. I think the following short snippet is very relevant to my discussion of Rick's gospel presentation and is worth repeating here for emphasis. Please feel free to comment.

Unfortunately, some have decided to simply reach out with good works while leaving any offensive gospel preaching in the dust. The trend is to offer inclusive acceptance rather than be forthright. By doing so, we risk losing converts by seeking the friendship and approval of the 'post-modern minded.' We tuck truth under the table for fear we’ll scare them off, but in the end we do them more harm than good. We might have them in our church, but does God have them in His Kingdom?

One of our greatest examples of Christian charity is the salvation army. But listen to the words of William Booth, “Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you ‘go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin.’ Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there.” Obviously, he was not referring to just feeding the poor. How would such utterances be received by the church today? No doubt, William Booth faced a society much like ours. He did not bow to the threatenings of a callous and base-minded society by changing the method of reaching them. If we are going to reach this post-modern world, we must do it the same way Jesus instructed us to do it 2000 years ago... preach the gospel! It was Jesus who said, "unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." By today's standards, Jesus would be considered a radical for saying such things. So while we follow His example of charity, let us follow His admonition to preach the gospel in its entirety. To deviate from the blue-print is to build a crooked house on sinking sand.