Sometimes I wonder if I’m inept at interacting with non-Christians. I like to think I have it all down. I shake my head at those sugary, over-the-top evangelistic efforts that just make people squirm. I know better than that. But I don’t have much of an alternative. I can stand on the sidelines and scoff, but what am I really doing? I’ve immersed myself in Christian culture for so long I’m practically unable to venture out.
High school and a few jobs I’ve had since have been my most intensive interactions with people other than Christians. College, my first job, my current work, and 98 percent of my hang out time are all with Christians.
It’s kind of sad, really. I have this great faith I say I want to share with everyone, but I only interact with people who are in the club. I think this is an attitude we propagate as well. After attending a Christian school, how many people end up in Christian businesses? I don’t mean to slam Christian businesses or colleges, I’m just wondering. It seems incredibly important for us to get out of ghettos sometimes, to brave the public schools and universities, to teach in the public schools, to write for the mainstream magazines, to walk the halls of the biggest and smallest corporations in the world.
I know lots of Christians who are doing it, most of my friends in fact, I’m just wondering about me. What’s my role?
Interesting. And here I was longing to be in a good Christian community to keep me up when I keep wanting to go down.
Both sides are rough- I have plenty of teachers and fellow students who aren’t believers, but how do you bring that out? Model it? You’re in all these classes together, but bringing it up is tough, and other times when it does, you’re too tired to realize it, or know what to say. Reminds me of how much I need God, because I haven’t got a clue these days.
Christian communities are good, I’m not trying to knock them. The problem is when your entire life is lived in a Christian community.
That’s where I feel I am sometimes, and that’s not so good.
Oh, I’d agree. As I’ve heard a few good preachers say, “salt is worthless unless it’s out making stuff salty.” Mmmmm, salt.
I find it a bit ironic to see this posting right after the “Twenty Nothing” one. Some of us are longing for a Christian community when we are almost fully surrounded by a secular one and others are feeling the opposite pull. It shows us that being surrounded completely by either is not healthy for our Christian maturity. Either one is hurting our call to be in and not of the world.
If we are only surrounded by other Christians, are we truly in the world, showing Christ’s light? If we are only surrounded by non-Christians, are we at greater risk for becoming of the world?
Hmmmm…I’ll have to ponder this some more…Thanks for giving me a taste of the other side…