WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — Unlike most pastors, Erwin McManus is more comfortable talking to people outside the church than he is to rooms full of Christians — like the ones at the North Carolina Baptist State Convention's evangelism conference Feb. 13.
The El Salvador native, who went to high school and college in North Carolina, today leads Mosaic — a congregation that doesn't call itself a church and meets in a nightclub and several other locations in Los Angeles.
But Mosaic's willingness to abandon a traditional church building and meet almost nomadically in one of America's densest, most diverse populations testifies to its commitment to take Jesus to the people. One year, the congregation met in seven locations.
McManus, author of several Christian books, grew up completely outside of faith. He brings an “unchurched” perspective to reaching people outside the church.
“We become so comfortable with each other that we lose touch with the world we live in,” he said.
McManus took issue with Christians who say people aren't open to the gospel today. He gave examples of conversations he's had with people who are eager to hear about Jesus. “Don't tell me people aren't open to God,” he said. “They're just not open to being preached at.”
While Christians are quick to tout the doctrinal and moral admonitions of the apostle Paul, “we sometimes miss his heart, and Paul was always broken for people who were without God,” McManus said.
“You can talk about church growth and evangelism all you want, but until people are on your heart, it's not going to matter,” he said.
McManus is impatient with Christians who flit from church to church looking for a pastor who will “feed” them. He said Christians are bulimic, spiritually “feeding” on Sunday, and then vomiting so they can feed again the next Sunday.
“My job isn't to feed the Christians, so they can feed the sheep,” he said. “My job is to make them hungry so they can feed themselves. The church isn't here for us. We are the church and we're here for the world.”
McManus said starting Mosaic was not easy and many times he wanted to quit. But he always found the people who brought him the most problems were those who never brought a lost person to church.
Many Christians “live life in neutral,” when instead they should be proactive, following Jesus radically and passionately, McManus said.
“Go until you get a no,” he said.
Referencing Paul's speech to the Greeks at Thessalonica, McManus said, “At Mosaic we are prophets of an unknown God. We are taking the unknown God and making him known to those who do not know him. That's a different job from preaching the Bible to Christians so they can feel good about what they believe.”
One of the reasons Mosaic doesn't call itself a “church” is that members want to be the church and have those they serve recognize it in them. “Early on, [in Jesus' day] we didn't call ourselves 'Christians;' we called ourselves 'followers of Christ,' and those outside [the church] called us 'Christians,'” McManus said. “Now we call ourselves 'Christians' and they call us 'hypocrites.' The world is turned upside down.”
In a question-and-answer session following his address, McManus encouraged church leaders to stop fearing people who ask questions.
“We demand such absolute adherence to our beliefs that our children pretend to believe until they leave home,” he said.
McManus cited an atheist son of a famous pastor who said he didn't know how to tell his dad when he was 10 years old that he didn't believe in God.
“What kind of world have we created in which a 10-year-old boy is afraid to ask his father anything?” McManus asked.
He said a pastor cannot “just be a Bible teacher; you have to share your life with the people.”
McManus contended that Christians and the church are often Christ's worst enemies. “Christianity is a dangerous place. We haven't learned to treat each other well. If someone disagrees even a little from our view of the Bible, we feel justified in crucifying that person,” he said. “The movement of Jesus is different from the church a lot of times.”
McManus said discipleship should begin with unbelievers. He pointed out that the Great Commission calls Christians to “go into all the world.”
“What we've been doing isn't making people better,” he said. “We can't even keep kids who've been raised in Sunday school their whole life.”
Churches should seek to connect people with God and let God change them, McManus said.
“The reality is, when the living God lives in you, it makes a difference,” he said.
McManus said a lot of Christians know more than they care, when they need to care more than they know. “There are a lot of people out there who really want to connect to Jesus, but when we talk with them we still sound like babblers to them,” he said.
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— Norman Jameson is the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina's communications director. Steve DeVane contributed to this story.