David Sorn is the founding pastor of Renovation Church in Blaine MN, and he’s someone I’ve known for many years. Meeting with David was a little bit different for my sabbatical plans, as Renovation and River’s Edge Church have very little in common (I mean, apart from being missional churches centered on the Bible and aligned with Converge). Renovation is in a fast growing suburb, and a key component of their ministry is planting other churches. Renovation is growing at a spectacular rate. Despite opening their new building for the first time just a couple of years ago, they have already broken ground on an expansion project to add to their space. I love what Renovation is doing, and I greatly appreciate David’s leadership and heart.
I was really looking forward to meeting with David, but our meeting was cut short because someone had mistakenly marked down our get-together on their calendar at the wrong time. I had mistakenly marked down our get-together on my calendar at the wrong time. So, we only had about half an hour to chat, but it was great to see the building for the first time and hear about what God was doing in Blaine.
There was one thing that David said that has still stuck with me, now weeks later. It was connected to another ongoing theme in my sabbatical conversations – the de-christianizing of our country. Over the next 10 years, it is increasingly likely that many, if not most, of the people we invite to church with us will not have any connection to any church. No Sunday school growing up, no going with grandma on Easter and Christmas. Nothing. They’ll likely know the name Jesus, but they won’t know anything about him. Even out in a rural community like River’s Edge is in, we’re seeing this more often, and especially with our youth group.
One of the things Renovation has done for years that has been hugely successful in its outreach is holding big community events – carnivals with rides and food trucks, helicopter egg drops, etc. They’ve been free events, by invitation, and they have connected with hundreds of new families through them.
But, in an increasingly non-Christian setting, inviting nonbelievers to church will take a very different feel. David said this: “The local mosque could hold the best community event ever, but I’m still not going.” We can throw great events, fun activities, serve outstanding food, and people still won’t come because they can get events, activities and food other places that don’t include some “weird religious stuff” that they will assume comes with being at a church.
So, the question moving forward will increasingly be, how do we reach people in our community with no connection to the Christian faith? There will undoubtingly be more and more conversations about this in the coming years, but I think there’s a pretty clear answer right away as to how do that: care about them.
They might not want to go to a fun event with a bunch of weird religious people, but they might want to go to a fun event with a friend that cares about them. They might not want to attend a meal with strangers that they have no connection with, but they will with someone that they already know they want to spend time with. They almost certainly won’t want to go to a service with iffy music that they don’t know and some weird guy talking behind a podium most of the time, but they’ll think about it if someone they trust tells them that its important to them and they get something valuable from it.
Our world is becoming a very different place, but the answer to how to reach it is the same as it has always been: love your neighbor. Build relationships, truly care about people, and point them to Jesus.
Driven 