Lost Sheep

[Wilson L. Deaton]

There is a discussion on the other board based on Stephen Anthony's recent Holiness Today article.

In that same article, Anthony made the statement that while pastors should certainly do outreach, they must balance that with feeding the sheep as Jesus instructed Peter in John 21.

Anthony is making the interpretive leap that the "sheep" Jesus referred in John 21 were believers.

In the gospels, the image of sheep is not limited to believers but sometimes refer to the lost. There is nothing in the context of John 21 that requires a "sheep equals believers" interpretation.

Wilson

[Barb Bouldrey]

You are right, Wilson. The scripture says "all we like sheep have gone astray." And Jesus says "MY sheep know my voice." and "Feed MY sheep."


Barb

[Brad Mercer]

Only when we think programatically is there tension between outreach and nurturing believers. If we truly see the value of people, if we really love, the same love drives us to relate to each person in a way that is effectively loving, so that each person, believer or not, is loved in a way that is individually appropriate. That should draw an unbeliever to belief and a believer to maturity. The general effect of loving anyone with the love of the Lord is to draw them closer to him.

Brad

[Wilson L. Deaton]

Only when we think programatically is there tension between outreach and nurturing believers. If we truly see the value of people, if we really love, the same love drives us to relate to each person in a way that is effectively loving, so that each person, believer or not, is loved in a way that is individually appropriate. That should draw an unbeliever to belief and a believer to maturity. The general effect of loving anyone with the love of the Lord is to draw them closer to him.

Brad

I agree.

I just think that when we err, we tend to err in the direction of ministering to the members to the neglect of outreach. I don't think we need to be building a stronger case for balancing outreach with ministry to members based on Scripture that doesn't necessarily mean that. I suspect that the, "My pastor cares more about the lost than us," complaints are most often simply selfish complaints from spoiled members and only rarely do they represent an actual problem.

Wilson

[Brad Mercer]

I suspect that the, "My pastor cares more about the lost than us," complaints are most often simply selfish complaints from spoiled members and only rarely do they represent an actual problem.

I think I probably do see it as an actual problem. The person making that complaint is saying "I don't feel loved and valued in the church." Even if I don't grant that person the office or program change or whatever is the focus of that complaint for them, I do want to love them in a way that leaves them feeling loved.

I remember a little old lady who complained about a particular aspect of the Sunday morning service, and was going to quit coming on that basis. I went to her house and told her why we did the service the way we did, and why we couldn't do what she wanted. But I also told her that we did want to love her in a way that felt like love to her. I told her I was sorry, and asked her to let us keep trying. I told her if we were going to experience real relationship based on real love together, we all had to keep trying, maybe failing, and trying again, and cut each other some slack along the way. I hugged her, cried with her, and found a way to do something outside the Sunday morning service that would meet her expressed need.

She never wavered again.

My fear is that frequently when a significant number of people in the church are saying in one way or another that they don't feel loved, that no actual lost people are feeling particularly loved by the church, either.

Brad

[David Cash]

Interesting discussion. The church I was involved with prior to the Church of the Nazarene leaned very strongly toward the idea that church was for the saved and evangelizing should be done outside. I never could quite see why anyone would hesitate to share the gospel message in church while also ministering to the believers.

Technically, the church is only made up of saved people. We are delighted, of course to have unsaved people in our meetings, and there is, as I just said, no excuse for letting them get away without a chance at eternal life. It shouldn't be an either or thing.

David Cash

[Laurie Florence]

My church has a group of people who get together in the evening, every 3rd Sunday of the month, to pray for souls. We each bring a list of 5 people we want to pray for, and we pray, together, for their salvation. It's pretty awesome.