Come and See
Jesus told us to go into all the world and be his ambassadors, but many churches today have inadvertently changed the “go and be” command to a “come and see” appeal. We have grown attached to buildings, programs, staff and a wide variety of goods and services designed to attract and entertain people.
It appears that the Episcopal Church in the United States of America has a new “outreach” program that buys into this altered message. Here in Portland I’m seeing banners on many of Episcopal Church buildings that read “Come and See!”
Their general line goes something like this. In the first chapter of John’s gospel, two disciples of John the Baptist approached Jesus and ask him, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus replies, “Come and see.” In that same chapter of John, when Nathanael questions Philip about Jesus and wonders “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip responds to him, “Come and see.” Therefore logically our message should also be one that invites not-yet-Christians to come and see.
The difficulty with taking these passages and applying them to our world is one of context.
Philip, Nathanael and the two disciples of John were individuals immerse in a culture highly familiar with the Old Testament, the religious practices of the day and a messianic expectation. They had a background on which to base an appeal. Not so in our pre/post-Christian context. Few people have any knowledge of or language with which to understand what following Jesus might mean and therefore are not likely be attracted to any Christian community or program. This has been borne out by studies done by Gregory A. Pritchard of seeker services (the definitive attractional “Come and See” program).
But in our post-Christian context, moving into the neighborhood and living an incarnational life is the command of Jesus. It is through a “go and be” life that we will have an opportunity to see where God is working, join him, communicate the gospel and ultimately be his instrument of invitation to “Come, let me introduce you to Jesus.”
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Tags: Attractional, Come and See, Episcopal, Incarnational
June 10th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
In light of your “go and be” vs. “come and see” this pic is priceless. I am sure people are flocking in mass when they read the banner :)
June 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Priceless indeed. St. Barnabas just happens to be right across from the entrance to our faith community campus, so I get to see it all the time. I just couldn’t believe it when they first put it up. What a great illustration.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
“Come and see” what? A church service? A show?
Those passaged dealt with specific circumstances. What are people being called to “come and see”?
For there to be a “church” there will at some point have to be an assembly of believers, but the believers get equipped and encouraged to go out, individually and cooperatively, to a hurting world. Go out, not necessarily invite people in. The invitation is taken care of by the Good News we are supposed to be telling and living, the Good News that the crucified and risen Jesus is Lord of Heaven and Earth and everything therein. We are called to live this new reality everywhere.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
rick
i think we sometimes tend to underestimate the amount of religious background that remains within our country. with this said, i think you are perfectly right that come and see is not what our message should be.
i think the difference between Jesus’ “come and see” and ours is that Jesus was saying it about following Him. whereas we say it about ourselves. we dont invite them to come and see Jesus, but to come and see our church and then through this church meeting, they may at some point in the future come and see Jesus.
going along with the missional definition theme for today, i find myself bringing people into the church to help them find Jesus, rather than showing them Him through our lives and words. we can bring Him to them so that they can come and see Him, not in some contrived service, but in our homes, at work, wherever.
peter