Breaking Tradition

Traditional Christianity seems to go something like this; go to church once a week, raise a family, work hard, and try to be generally good. The only difference from non Christians is going to church once a week or less. The national rate is something like two and a half times per month. No wonder we aren’t transforming America. Jesus commanded us to go out and make disciples which we think only means mission work to other countries. I believe Jesus was really saying, “Start right where you are.”

Since most church growth in this country is lateral, meaning people leaving churches and going to another, we aren’t growing much. I’m going into hostile territory, but most people and churches hinder the Holy Spirit by being afraid to break from tradition. When you read the Book of Acts you see the Holy Spirit very much alive in the early Christians and their churches. That is why Christianity spread like wildfire even against extreme oppression. We have grown afraid to challenge tradition and think outside the box.

A group of men in the Sandpoint area formed over a year ago to launch a ministry to reach the non churched people. We held an outdoor expo that targeted many outdoor sport venues. Results the first year exceeded our expectations because we let God take over. We were able to connect with the community in a way never tried in Sandpoint. Over sixty retail vendors signed up, many of those were not Christian. Several vendors stated after the show that this was the best show they had ever participated in. We don’t take credit for that, it belongs to God. The second annual sports expo will be held this year at the Bonner County Fairgrounds from February 12 through the 14th. We look forward to impact people’s lives with the realness of Jesus.

The lack of local churches to catch this ministry vision is disappointing. The men come from five churches but Sandpoint has over twenty. Many pastors will not bring it up to their men. We have tried approaching them through a variety of ways but tradition seems to block our efforts. Our prayer is for these pastors to catch the vision of transforming Sandpoint for Christ. You do that by building relationships with the community not by religion.