Jack Hager

Hard to Brag About Jesus if You Don't Know Anyone Outside the Body of Christ



Posted: Wednesday, September 17, 2008

by
http://midlandjack.blogspot.com

According to surveys by Ellison Research of Phoenix, 36 percent of Americans polled indicate that they have no idea "what an evangelical Christian is" in the first place. Only 35 percent of all Americans believe they know "someone very well who is an evangelical," while a stunning 51 percent are convinced they don't know any evangelicals at all.

I won't even try to define the term "evangelical," since you can find a bunch of different definitions. Since the definition is so nebulous, I wonder what those polled though when they were asked if they knew any "evangelicals."

Do they think it is synonymous with "Christian"? Or perhaps some may think it is the same as "fundamentalist?"

I don't know.

So since the term is not easily defined by Christians, much less those outside the faith, I'm not sure if the Ellison survey has any real meaning.

But I wonder how many Americans would say they know no "Christians"? Agreed, even that term is too vague. Maybe "Followers of Jesus" would be a better description? Some use "Bible Believer" but I bet unregenerate people would automatically equate that with "fundamentalist."

So maybe instead of asking questions like the above, perhaps it would be more beneficial, and quite revealing, just to ask this of people who claim to have repented of all they knew about sin to turn to all they knew about Jesus:

"How many unsaved people do you know?"

It's pretty hard to be Jesus to unsaved people if we don't know any unsaved people.

Have we built our Christian forts, Christian health clubs, Christian motorcycle clubs, Christian scrapbooking clubs, and such to the point that we just hang out with each other and pray "about" the lost, rather than hanging out with the lost and showing them Christ-life in action?

Pretty hard to obey the great commission if we are all parked in our great congregations
Jack Hager has been in vocational Christian ministry for three decades. He did not convert to Christianity until he was 26, while incarcerated. Following parole he attended a Bible school in Kansas City.

Jack speaks at 5-7 youth camps each summer, in addition to pulpit supply, school asemblies, prisons, jails and a host of other venues. Jack hosted a radio call-in program for the Family Life Network, edited the "Family Life Journal," and directed a teen Bible Quiz league.

Jack Hager currently serves as Ministry Liaison with Midland Ministries in Saint Joseph, Mo.

Jack maintains a blog HERE

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Teresa Ortiz
 3 years 137 days ago.
187 fans.
Exellent post Jack! Thanks for the admonishment. It's so true, we have to get out of the salt shaker if we want to flavor the world with Jesus!
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