Pop the Damn Bubble Please [Original]
NOTE – READ THIS BEFORE READING POST – This is my original, I posted an edited version which has MANY differences in it. I feel that though I include some harsh words in here, i can’t let it go hidden. I know what my role is as a leader on this campus. I’m continually praying that I’ll be doing the right thing. And I’m convicted to put the original back up for those who want to read it. You were warned but feel free to talk to me about this original post.
Okay I’m just warning you now, i’m going to do a bit of rambling in this post.
I usually have a lot of thoughts going on in my head. I think that we, as the body of Christ at Cornell, are really inefficient right now. There’s a lot of reasons why i think that also.
I have a lot of friends in a lot of different fellowships and I hear a lot about what happens with the different ministries on campus. Some are amazing and blessings, and some, I’m just like, what was going through your mind when you thought of this? Not to be mean, but those are my thoughts.
I will not name any fellowships because my fellowship is also to blame and this post is not to put ppl down, but hopefully to point out some things that we can all focus on in the future so that the body of Christ at Cornell can be furthered efficiently and in His power and Spirit.
Some fellowships are amazing at welcoming people and getting them plugged in and creating this family atmosphere. But sometimes this even goes to an extreme where this family becomes a damn bubble, to a point where you’re suffocated and can’t even breathe in enough air to even carry out God’s will. Community is essential in the Christian’s life. A Christian will die spiritually if they don’t get into a good community that will be accountable to them to help them to grow and challenge and encourage them to grow in love. BUT once again, you don’t want a damn bubble. God called us to make disciples, and in my mind, I just don’t see how anyone can make new disciples out of people who have yet to encounter Christ IF YOU DON”T KNOW ANY. I just don’t think it’s possible. God has explicitly called us out and told us to go into the world. He has decided to use US and we huddle in our corners believing that God told Himself and not us to go reach people. We are not taking up the honor that God has called us to.
I’m blessed to know that fellowships are reaching inwards to the body of believers, but they sometimes forget that as Christians we’re called to be missionaries, everywhere we are.
Christians are really good with coming up with these ideas, these outreach events, these programs. We try extra hard to make it enticing and attractive for non christians to come to. Christians spend months going off into a corner somewhere with other believers preparing for some “outreach event.” In the mean time their non christian friends ask them if they can hang out, go play, eat dinner, or just talk sometime and the Christian says, “oh sorry, i gotta go meet my christian group to prepare for this outreach event that is for you.” Then by the time the Christian group finishes preparing for this event, they go out to find people to come, and the people they ask are the same people who asked them to play, eat, and chill, but they’re not friends any more, they’re just acquaintances now, because the Christian didn’t spend any time with them, they’re just strangers to each other. Why do they have any reason to come to your outreach event when you didn’t spend any time with them when they asked you to. It’s like expecting something in return for not giving anything in return. It’s crazy and makes no logical sense.
When I read the Bible, especially the gospels, and I’m going through Matthew and John simultaneously right now, I just don’t see any instance where Jesus and his disciples go into the desert for an extended amount of time preparing for some “outreach event” and coming back after they’ve finished and asking people to come. I believe that logically, no one would come. I mean, of course some people would go, cuz its Jesus, lol. But I believe that no one would go because no one would know who Jesus was. Why would they come to some event held by some guy they know nothing about? It just doesn’t make any sense to go. Sure disciples can say to people, “come and you’ll find out all about who I am.” But honestly all you have to do to accomplish that is spend some time with people. They are already extending their friendship to you, it doesn’t get any easier than that.Jesus lived his life with the people he wanted to reach. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the time in between too. With both believers and non believers in His presence. Jesus accepted every invitation He got to go to a party because it was an event already created where He could just walk in, make friends, and share what He came here to do. I believe wholeheartedly that we are to follow in Jesus’ example. I just don’t understand why we continue to do stuff that’s not founded on the Bible.
It’s like God’s saying, “here’s my foolproof plan, just do it like Jesus.” and we’re like “nah, no thanks God, I think I got something better in mind, I think you’ll like it. I like it a lot.” Please tell me if that doesn’t sound crazy to you. Or how about instead of spending this extended time preparing for these events, use the time to prepare and train Christians in how to reach out to their friends through conversation and just daily living and dying of self to Christ? I think that this would have much larger long term benefits, and would provide training that the Christian can use in their entire lifetime.
Christians on Cornell’s campus spend so much damn time preparing for stuff when we could just be spending that time with people who want to hang and chill with us, who want to know us, who would actually be willing to know what we believe in. We’re rejecting the people who we’re called to love and spend time with.
I want you to read and take this with a bit of saltThere’s this event coming up on campus, kinda like a big game day for Christians but the months leading up to this event includes a lot of training for this event. If you’ve figured out which event and fellowship this is, take what I say with a bit of salt. I love this fellowship, I have friends in here who encourage me in my walk with Christ daily, so I in no way desire to bash the group. I just think they can do something more worthwhile. The fellowship that’s organizing this is like a powerhouse on campus. They have one of the largest Christian bodies on campus and they’re basically organizing an army of Christians and having them spend the months leading up to this event training to play A GAME. WHAT THE…? Sure people have given me reasons like, it’s to unite the fellowship. I mean, why not organize the army of Christians to go out and serve the community? They have the organizational power and manpower to do the largest Christian service day at Cornell. You grow in battle and through service, that’s where the real growth and bonding happens. Iron can’t sharpen iron if you don’t use the stupid sword. I mean, that’s just one thing you could do with an organized army of Christians. OR Why not use this organized army of Christians to REACH THE CAMPUS AND SPREAD THE GOSPEL? COME ON!! GEEZE, I’m just getting frustrated thinking about this. My fellowship doesn’t even have the organizational power to organize anything like this, but they do, and they’re using it to PLAY A GAME?! I mean, please, at least include a rule like, “each team must be at least half non Christians.” You’re not going to like me, but these are my thoughts and your thoughts are welcome.
I’m just jealous that my fellowship doesnt have the organizing power to do either of these things, but then again, if we did have the power I would use it for the spreading of the gospel. Or use it for training in furthering the gospel.
POP THE DAMN BUBBLE PLEASE
P.S. – Your input and comments are highly valued and would love to dialogue if you approve or disprove of what I wrote. Once again, these are just ramblings, I’m not writing a book or anything.
