Tim Stevens at Wibo

NOTES FROM STEVENS:
* Used Desperate Housewives clip from last month. (Great clips)
* Reality #1- Churches are not making an impact. In a lot of cases, churches are the problem.
* Reasons people are turned off by churches (from UnChristian and Barna): hypocritical, too focused on getting converts, homophobic, sheltered, too political, and judgmental. Perceive church life as irrelevant, have bad memories of bad personal experiences with churches, feel unwelcome.
* We’re doing great with the churched, but we are not getting the job done with unchurched and dechurched.
* Reality #2 Spiritual interest is growing in culture.
* People recognize need to develop inner life, but they don’t see the church as able to help it.
* As a church, a lot of times we are asking questions that no one is asking.
* John 1:14 “Christ became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” (MSG)
* Christ used the signs and symbols of day to reach people.
* Christ would watch our movies, surf internet, use pop culture, use music lyrics, to reach people today
* How can we leverage the culture in church to reach people?
* What’s an example of a biblical basis for using culture to impact people? Acts 17:10-33
* Paul used the culture around him to teach them about Christ!
* He quoted two different poets, an idol in the town,
* BIG IDEA: Leverage the culture or risk losing your impact.
* Celebrate what God is doing in the community in the here and now, rather than constantly talking about the past.
* Too often we don’t like asking questions. Typically, our churches aren’t a place to answer questions most of the time. We focus too much on just providing answers.