I work with a prayer ministry who’s focus is on Christians leading ministries and planting Christian churches in Utah whose hearts are led to bring the deceived to Biblical Truth in love. In this regard, I work with a great number of sending organizations, one of which is Vision 360 in Michigan. One of my weekly reports from a Pastor in Utah mentioned a new “incarnational church” plant in Utah. I’d never heard this term before and a google search led me to your blog. Long way to tell you how I came here…

I have questions after reading your post on the incarnational church. Does your church still meet as a congregation in a church building? How do you go about your ministry to reach the lost? I’m asking because this method certainly is Biblically sound. My pastor stuggles just as the Pastor Kris who felt convicted by your post. We all want to reach our communities for Christ – all genuine Christians do, certainly. We ache for others to know the truth and find joy in relationship with Christ. We just don’t seem to know how to reach them anymore. The world has become so dark and negative that it’s tempting to hide our heads in the sand and go about our worship with a blind eye to the world. But that’s not what Jesus would have us do.

Our church in Littleton, CO is filled with a lot of older people who are very comfortable and set in their ways. We have few young people and young families, and every attempt to outgrow this stagnant situation has failed it seems.

Our (very small) youth group has gone to Utah to lead VBS to draw the decieved there into the fold. They have gone door to door locally with bags of goodies and invitations to our church. Our church now offers a free tutoring program called Whiz Kids every week for the local elementary (we’re located in a neighborhood that has many indigent and immigrant people.) We have a food bank that gives food to the poor every other Friday. We collect toys and gifts all year to give to the poor. Members of our church volunteer in the local elementary school carnival as an outreach every year. Yet all of these attempts to reach our community to bring souls to Christ have produced no growth in our church.

We have a wonderful pastor who teaches the Bible with great enthusiasm and has a passion to reach our communtiy. We stay because his teaching is sound and we love the fellowship. I had come to the conclusion (perhaps wrongly) that there are different kinds of churches to meet different kinds of needs. I personally don’t like big churches. Not all churches are for young people or families. There has to be a place for the older folks to feel comfortable too. At the same time, we don’t know who’s lives are being touched by these outreaches who eventually attend other Christian churches and commit their lives to follow Jesus.

My point is, I’m wondering what you all do differently, what it really means to be incarnational as a body of Christ (aren’t we all one body together in His name?) Do you go to into downtown St. Louis to talk with homeless people one on one? Preach from street corners? Proselytize in pubs and clubs? Exactly how do you reach the sinners where they are?

I hope you have time to enlighten me because I’m really intrigued by your blog here. Thanks so much and God bless you. Please email me with your reply at annee_mchughes at yahoo.com.

anne