A Follower of Christ

A number of years ago I was blessed with the opportunity to meet a young church planting pastor who was planning a new church in the community where I pastor. The church model he proposed and employed presents a concert style worship service, in an ultra-contemporary setting, with a high energy message. The lights are off in the congregation throughout the ser-vice while spotlights illuminate the stage, the singers, and then the pastor as he speaks. Every part of the service is choreographed and carried off in impressive fashion. The church has grown and the attendance at their weekly services is impressive. This young church planter came to town with a plan to attract people to his new church and he has certainly been successful in drawing the crowds. Among all the things the pastor shared with me that day, there was one statement that caught my attention and played over and over again in my mind. He said his goal was to invite people to be followers of Jesus. He wanted to get them in the building, so he could invite them to follow Jesus. On the surface that statement sounds good. After all, who would be opposed to inviting others to be followers of Christ? However, upon deeper reflection, we realize that calling people to be followers of Christ without telling them how to be followers of Christ is to invite spiritual disaster. If we imply that following Jesus means coming to a church service, enjoying the concert, hearing a life-lessons message, and then going home until next week, we have seriously misled them! There is the danger that we might create a false sense of security because the person thinks they are a follower of Christ by association with a church. How trag-ic would it be for such a person to die and then hear Jesus say, “depart from me for I never knew you” (Matt. 25:41). As ambassadors of Christ in this world, we must be sure the message of the Gospel we share majors on a new spiritual birth and relationship with God.