In our community in New York City, Trinity Grace Church, we’re intentional about hosting dinners and inviting people into our lives—they’re actually pretty countercultural things these days. And our only motivation is to welcome them into the life of our community. It’s about making friends. A natural overflow of the attitude of being good neighbors and connecting human to human. There’s none of the weirdness that happens when Christians try to overcompensate in their desire to win people to Christ. That kind of manipulation isn’t natural, and it relinquishes credibility.
This next generation has really recovered the idea of restoring the full story of the Gospel from creation to Revelation. When people are broken, when marriages are broken, it’s the job of believers to partner with God to bring His love and power to these situations. The members of this next generation have relearned the power of the ought—the way things ought to be. Life before the fall.
If we tell the story that every human being is made in the image of God, then we can come alongside non-Christians and affirm their goodness. We can say, “You know why you’re doing all this? It’s the image of God in you.” So salvation isn’t just a fantastic idea of an afterlife; it’s also about making sense of what they’re doing in this life.
There will be times in their lives, however, when things break down, and then we can talk to them about how sin and corruption and evil play a role—but it’s not a weird or awkward thing, because we’ve made the investment of many conversations.
This portion of the Gabe Lyons interview appeared in the 10th anniversary issue of Outreach magazine.
