Martin Luther said, “The world does not need a definition of religion as much as it needs a demonstration.”

Christianity is not a noun, it’s a verb; it requires action. I believe the world is confused about what it means to be a Christ-Follower because we have talked about it more than we have shown it. Christianity is a show and tell mission…not just a tell. When we are more busy debating rather than doing we have abandoned the mission. Jesus told us to go and make disciples, not go and debate doctrines.

The next generation could care less about our traditional ways of doing things without any purpose behind it. They see more of a religious routine than a real relationship when it comes to the church. But I think we are to blame, not them. Unfortunately, we have majored on the minors and in doing so have forgotten to simply major on the majors. Our primary message has been behavior modification, not healing the heart. When we focus on what we do rather than on who we are we have missed the point.

So how do we influence the world with real-life demonstration?

1) Less Talking More Doing

Stop trying to convince everyone they need Jesus. Rather spend your time doing what He did…LOVE! You don’t lead someone to Christ by convincing them, you lead them to Christ by connecting with them. If you can talk someone into salvation they can just as easily be talked out of it. Salvation isn’t a head decision, it’s a heart decision. You have to experience God’s love before you love Him back. That’s why Jesus said, He chose us first, before the foundation of the world. He extended love to us so that we could respond back to Him. He initiated the whole deal. So use less words and more action in the long run.

2) Less Routine And More Relationship

Stop saying the same things and trying to do cookie cutter Christianese things. Saying the words, “God bless you!” is great until it just becomes a robotic routine without heart. We tend to keep the same tactics to reach an ever-changing world. The problem is, our tactics become routine, not relational. Slow down and be real with people. You don’t have to always say the same things, and act the same way, and revert to what your “supposed to do.” Jesus approached everyone very different, it was never a cookie cutter evangelism program that was scripted. Get to know people and build relationships.

3) Less Theology And More Jesus

Stop trying to argue over every detail in the Bible, it becomes an unending vortex of frustration. Salvation was never dependant on being a scholar of the Bible. In fact, no one had a “Bible” for the first 300-400 years of Christianity, and Christianity survived it’s most brutal foundational years without it. Everything rises and falls on Jesus, not every detail of the text. Christianity wasn’t founded on the Bible, it was founded on Jesus the Christ and His resurrection. The Bible documents all of what happened, but it didn’t all happen because the Bible said it. Remember, the Bible is a document of the story, it didn’t create the story. If it doesn’t start and end with Jesus we are missing the whole message of the story. Keep your conversations around Jesu, not every theological debate.