Is This Person Far From God?

I saw this tweeted by perrynoble (perrynoble) who had this observation,
"WOW...this article by Dr. James Emory White is DEFINITELY worth your time, espec if you care about people far from God."

But before you click through to the link, let me ask you, "what does it mean to be far from God?" The easy answer is: if you are not with God, you are far from God.

This article DOESN'T go FAR enough (pun intended ). Talking about God. Being familiar with God and church culture. Having attended church in the past.....this person, hypothetically, is not far from God.

The person who is far from God. Doesn't know God exist. Has never been to church. Jesus is unknown to them. Spiritually, they worship another God, etc. This person, hypothetically speaking, is MUCH farther from God.

Your approach as a Christian to these two persons will be much different. You should expect the one who is farther removed from God to take a longer time to discover He/she wants and needs God.

In church planting, you can pursue the person this article speaks about BUT there are far MORE people who are a long way from God. It requires us as a church to think differently on how we will move them toward God as a community and individually.

Unfortunately, many in church planting are pursuing those who are not far from God while neglecting those whose hearts are miles from embracing the Father who misses them the most.

In fact, to justify our planting churches in some parts of the country, we make the "formerly churched " sound as if the are the NEW standard for being FAR from God.

Let's join God, through Christ, seeking and saving those who are lost. Not those lost in the church building.

- http://t.co/MwpBTGR