I’ve lost count of how many missions events I’ve attended where the theme was “reaching the lost.” I’ve always had a visceral aversion to this term, “the lost.” It’s an aversion that’s bothered me at times — am I just afraid of the exclusiveness of the claims of Christ? Perhaps, but I recently noticed this post on church growth seminars that resonated with me on this and other related topics.
I think at least some of my negative reaction to the term “reaching the lost” is ethically and theologically right. Ethically, “the lost” is a way of objectifying people. It moves us out of the responsibility to develop authentic two-way relationships with real individuals, in which we might learners and receivers as much as teachers and givers. It sets us up as “better,” more enlightened, more knowledgeable than those who we’re trying to “reach.” It devalues the personal story of the “other” and insists that “our” stories take priority.
Theologically, “the lost” ignores God’s sovereignty. Ultimately God, and only God, knows who has received and who will receive the grace that is available in Christ. Moreover, we do not “reach” people. Rather, the Holy Spirit changes people, and God sometimes uses us in that process. Finally, often this idea of “reaching the lost” is coupled with a sense of desperate urgency. There is an urgency in that the “fields are white unto harvest” and we are called to go into those fields. But there is no urgency in the sense of whether God’s plan of redemption will be accomplished.
So, I’d rather set aside talk of “reaching the lost.” Let’s instead talk of “announcing good news.” God’s reign, His peace, has come in Christ, and we invite all to participate.
One reply on “Reaching The Lost”
There really are those who are “lost” by their own definition and for whom Christ’s message seems a lighthouse when they are desperately trying to keep themselves above the waves on a stormy sea. I was one of those people, and still am. However I think we make a mistake when we try to convince people that they are lost. This sets up the situation you describe – “you’re lost and I’m not”. This invites people to look very carefully and judgmentally at our life, and many of us would fail that scrutiny. Most people who do not perceive themselves as lost find this approach either arrogant (and it is) or ridiculous. Which is how I perceived it until I knew I was lost.
Leonard Cohen has a line in Suzanne:
Jesus was a sailor and he walked upon the water. He spent a long time looking from a lonely wooden tower. And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him, he said “All men shall be sailors then until the sea shall free them.” I don’t entirely agree with the message here but I have often resonated with the line that only drowning men can see God.