Last week I posted this Self Admitted Rant. Which was a response to the many conversations I had with friends who are not Christian. They are more than simply non-Christian. They, like Caleb Crider says, “nothing” the church. That is to say, they don’t hate Christians or Christian churches. But they do have a opinion if asked. And the prevailing line of thought is what I expressed in my rant – that people are objects to be pursued.

So its not hate, or even ambivalence. Its nothing. People who do not go to church, especially in the bible-belt South, do not spend one waking hour thinking about the church or Christians. Therefore, no matter how you dress the church up, people are not just going to show up. We can light candles, have a rock band, the best children’s and youth program, and all the latest technology blazing at full speed on Sunday mornings, but none of that matters to someone who “nothings” you.

What I am learning in church planting, more than anything, is the difficulty of making genuine friends. As soon as I tell someone I am a pastor, the whole dynamic changes, even with self-professing Christians. For those I have a relationship with, who are not Christian, uncomfortable would be the descriptor. Because we are in a “churched” (I use that term loosely) area, there is still a certain amount of, “I can’t cuss, drink, or smoke around a pastor” mentality. In other words, people feel like they cannot be themselves. This makes building a genuine relationship with anyone extremely difficult. I may be an “acceptable outsider” in their social network, but without key relationships with people who are spiritually open, have a good reputation, and have influence in their social circles – a “person of peace” (see Luke 10) – I will always be an outsider.

Established churches know this. So what happens is the shotgun approach. Churches spend significant parts of their budgets on programing and advertising blanketing as many people as they can who have similar “felt” needs to get them to come to a church meeting. This approach, however, only fuels what I express in my rant – that people are objects to be pursued.

Missional churches know that we are in it for the long haul rather than the quick fix. We understand that finding persons of peace and basing our ministry there seems like a less effective method in the short term. But in the long term, churches that grow out of local, indigenous friendships will have substance. They will have roots.