#consider reading the book about space colonialism where the colonizers lose instead of say the new avat*r movie

[evilgourd-moved]

assignment: book cover

I chose The Word For World Is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin

i may have some details wrong, but this was how I imagined Selver.

description

[tribulationwatchman]

Church needs to leave the building for True Christianity to grow!

As a Watchman on the Wall, it is up to us to see the signs and warn other Christ Followers about the upcoming events that were inspirationally written by John the Revelator. For many watchmen, especially those who run websites on the matter such as CBN News or End Time Headlines, the concentration seems to be on doom and gloom.

If you don't believe me, just yesterday (Monday, July 27, 2021), CBN News published an article on all the natural disasters that are currently plaguing the western United States. As of the publication of the article, there are 90 wildfires across 11 states, another record-breaking drought, monsoons, sandstorms, and who knows what else.

Though the large array of natural disasters point to End Times, the one sign that seems to go under the wire, maybe because it isn't a doom and gloom angle to score viewership and ratings, is the church. Christianity will finally reach every corner of the world before End Times happens. It will happen but the progress can only move forward if Christ Followers do one thing: have the church leave the building.

Now many people might read the aforementioned paragraph and scoff at the statement. However, I digress. Simply look at the church over the past three decades today included. For example, earlier this year, I was a volunteer witness for one of Andrew Palau's festivals located in Viera, Florida, Space Coast CityFest. It was an amazing event that brought hundreds of people to God. I am proud God used me, and some other friends who were there, for the event.

Even though Space Coast CityFest was technically a success, I had to wonder if it really did "leave the church building to save people." The event took place at Event Park which is right across the street from the Viera campus of the main church that backs the event, Calvary Chapel. The Evangelistic material was designed to truly reach out to people in accordance with the event happening at the time all within the safety of a fenced-off, security-detailed event.

In short, Church did not really leave the building with Space Coast CityFest. And if you want to get technical, it crossed the street to another "safe space."

If you think about it, Church has been a "safe space" for a very long time. We can even go back to when Spain was evangelizing through mission work for the Catholic Church. Historically, the Catholic Church would go wherever Spain would colonize (thus why my home country of the Philippines is Catholic) but only where Spain has established a colony. When I say colony, I actually mean "safe" (or as close to "safe" as they can get). Are there any missions in which the Catholic Church just goes to some random jungle to evangelize? Maybe but I can't find any records of it.

Even today's missions are safe. I don't know if you have ever been on a modern-day mission but if you have, you'll definitely go wherever the mission is set to take you but you'll mostly end up at a compound or outpost that was set up as a hub to evangelize to the natives in the area. Once again, safe.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not knocking on safety for that is surely tantamount these days. But are we being "too safe?" And when it comes to missions, do some of us (who have the skills, training, and ability) have to step out of our safe zone to truly bring the Word of God or Gospel of Jesus to everyone?

Apparently, the answer is "yes." For Christianity to grow, it needs to leave Church (as in the building) and actually go back out into the world.

Probably the first time I saw the aforementioned in action is through the show Travel the Road. The show is about missionaries Tim Scott and Will Decker as they go to the most remote places to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people. This may include civilizations that have never seen modern technology ever. So in short, their arrival is oftentimes a culture shock.

Even though the video editing is phenomenal and of studio quality, don't get it twisted when I say Tim and Will suffer and go through a lot to bring the Word of God to people. With little to nothing but what they have in packs, they have experienced a lot of hardship just so people would get to know Jesus.

Now does leave Church (once again, the building) to truly see Christianity grow mean going to the deepest, darkest jungles and the most remote deserts just like Tim and Will do? No. There are many people in places here in the United States who may have an opportunity to know Jesus if Christ Followers visited them.

Case and point: the adult entertainment/sex industry. At this moment, XXXchurch and Strip Church are bringing the Word of God to people in said industry.

I personally like the direction of XXXchurch and how they have grown and matured since I first heard of them back in the first decade after 2000 through ICE Powered (Intense Christian Entertainment).

To describe how they were in their early days, I would say a more organized and much larger Porn Addicts Anonymous group. They did what they can through God and the power of the Holy Spirit to help many get over porn addiction and to save those who are trapped in the porn and sex industry. Though highly successful, they were on the losing end of the battle.

The issue with XXXchurch is nothing to do with them but the industry they were reaching out to and how Christianity viewed the industry as well as XXXchurch. Despite the numbers showing that many Christ Followers struggle with porn addiction, it was often considered "shameful" for it to be known and to have that part of a person be hidden in a box away from societal eyes. XXXchurch was willing to help people with that hidden box. Many Christians are more than happy for what XXXchurch does but they would never make it known they were associated with them simply because of what XXXchurch deals with.

To summarize the situation, porn addiction is that super huge elephant in the room representing Christians and the church, and only a small arrow labeled "XXXchurch" is the only one to acknowledge that elephant. See the situation there? Big problem but nobody really wants to acknowledge it.

To counter this "losing battle," XXXchurch has grown from its years of experience and knows they have to "lift the veil" on the industry and have honest, open, raw discussions in which people are "in the know" instead of just constantly shoving the industry into a little dinky black box of shame.

Now led by former pornstar who was saved by Jesus Christ, Brittni De La Mora, XXXchurch is educating Christians about the business so we actually know how it works. By doing so, it will become an asset in showing Jesus to those trapped in the industry through business or addiction without being judgy.

Where can we begin?

Probably one of the best resources we have on evangelizing outside of Church (for the last time, the building) is in the Holy Bible. The Book of Acts is probably an excellent place to start as it teachers readers about what the early Church did primarily through Simon Peter and Paul the Apostle.

For further reading, I would suggest reading Christianity to Go by Glen Berteau. Doesn't exactly show tips and tricks to evangelize to people outside of Church, but the life experience of evangelizing outside of Church written by Berteau may provide insight.