What Is Different?

This is the second chapter from Gary Miller’s Reaching America: God’s message has not changed but our culture has. The first chapter was titled Awake, Alive, and Multiplying, was the prior post. If you missed the last post, I suggest you read introductory chapter one before this chapter for clarity.

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Those first exciting days of the early church must have been marvelous to behold. The end of the fourth chapter of Acts summarizes those exhilarating days like this:

The whole congregation of believers was united as one— one heart, one mind! They didn’t even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, “That’s mine; you can’t have it.” They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them. And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person’s need. Acts 4:32-35 The Message Version

So far in Acts, we don’t read of any selfishness or covetousness. Instead, we read of selling, sharing, and serving. What a beautiful sight? We don’t read of problems or disagreements among that first group of believers. No wonder the early church multiplied and grew even in the midst of persecution. This wasn’t just something that happened at a yearly revival – the church increased in numbers daily. This was a movement you would want to join. It was a winning team.

Then, in the very first verse of the fifth chapter, we find these words: ”But a certain man named Ananias,” and from there on we read of believers involved in lying, murmuring against other believers, even disagreeing so sharply they couldn’t travel together. There was conflict over who could be accepted in the group, what was required to be a disciple of Jesus, and whether certain leaders were qualified. In fact, after the book of Acts, the majority of our New Testament is letters to churches dealing with problems and trying to hold things together. Regardless how beautiful its beginning, it seems the Christian church had a very short honeymoon. Looking back from out vantage point today, the history of Christianity is littered with disillusionment and conflict.

So how do we view that initial tantalizing picture we read about in the part of Acts? Was it just a brief experiment that failed? Or something that worked great at firs,t but is not replicable? These are the questions many of us have struggled with. Why doesn’t evangelism work like that where we live? Why don’t our neighbors come knocking on our doors asking what the secret is to our inner joy and happiness? Why are churches closing in America? Why is the fastest growing segment in our Western culture those who don’t profess any religious belief at all?

To answer these questions, it is essential to briefly back away from our American experience. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is intended for the entire world, yet so often we become Western-centric in our thinking and blinded to global reality. God is at work in other countries and cultures as well, and looking over the wall into other settings may help us answer these questions. It may also assist us in reaching out here in America.

My first direct exposure to church life in a restricted country was in 2007. I traveled with another man to encourage underground Chinese church leaders, and the experience was very eye-opening. I had read stories about the spiritual vibrancy of these “house churches.” I had heard of their faithfulness during intense persecution and listened to accounts of strong leaders willing to stand against a godless communist regime. I was prepared to meet spiritual giants. What I found was not what I expected.

Instead of experienced leaders, I found leaders who were overtaxed yet undertaught. Thes men and women were strong on conviction but weak in experience. They were humble people who were well aware of their deficiencies. Tears were always at the surface, and earnest prayer was their constant companion. I remember sitting on my bed early one morning looking over my notes I had prepared on the subject of prayer. I had an outline with bullet points, and thoughts I had gleaned from others in the past. But as I reviewed my note, I kept hearing a group of pastors in the adjoining room. They had been praying for hours, starting before I was awake, and it seemed as if they would never finish. Yet it was not the length of time but their passion that moved me. I couldn’t understand the language, but I could grasp the emotion. These people were praying in a way I never had. Putting my notes back in my briefcase, I realized there was no way I could speak to them about prayer. I was completely unqualified.

Some of them had been believers for only a few years, yet they had been asked to lead churches. One leader was only eighteen years old, yet was the primary overseer of several congregations. The church had grown so fast there simply was no one else in their city with more experience. Over and over, I heard stories of healings, of miracles, of new believers. The expansion was happening faster than their ability to provide Bibles, so some churches had share one Bible among the entire group. What I was seeing in China in 2007 was almost an exact replica of what we read about in the first chapter of Acts. In both scenarios, the church was expanding at an exponential rate, evidenced by miraculous events and purposeful, productive evangelism. How different from my experience in America!

Since that time, I have had the opportunity to see this in other countries as well. I have seen Muslims – even a fervent Imam – come to faith. They had observed the incredible change in new Christians’ lives and had come asking for the power of Jesus for themselves. Some of these were quiet citizens who became a powerful force in sharing the Gospel. Visions and miracles are not uncommon in these restricted countries, and reading their stories is every bit as exciting as the first chapters of Acts. There are so many similarities between the experiences of the early church and what is happening in places like China that there is no question in my mind – the book of Acts is not a record of a one-time event. It is a pattern of what real evangelism looks like. And it is still occurring around the world today. Then I look at America …

Why is our nation so different? Why don’t we commonly see tremendous church growth, dramatic miracles, or radical life transformation stories? It is not for the lack of programs. An incredible amount of money and energy has gone into advertisements, Gospel tracts, and all kinds of media intended to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet many of these efforts seem unfruitful. I know a sincere   man who had a deep burden for the lost in his city. It had a population of over 200,000 people, and he was not sure how he could reach them. After spending time in prayer and talking with a few others, he came up with a plan – they would canvass the whole city.

Enlisting a group of men, they prayerfully went house to house, covering the entire metropolitan area. At the conclusion they shared their results. Some people were friendly but uninterested; others slammed their doors in frustration. Only a few were interested in listening to their message. After all that well-intended effort, not one person committed his life to the Lord.

My goal in sharing this story is not to discourage this type of effort or to insinuate we should not pass out tracts. We should definitely have this kind of burden for the lost. But it does surely illustrate the dilemma we face in reaching out in America. Most of us have found our culture is a difficult place to evangelize. But why?