Imagination

Why is it so difficult to reach people for Christ in America today? Why does it take so long for some of our friends and neighbors to see Jesus in us and come to receive Him as Lord? Why can we hear of multitudes of people responding to an invitation to come to Christ in some other nations of the world but seldom here in the USA?
Perhaps our friends see our inconsistencies and hypocrisy and reject Jesus because of our lack of character. It may be blamed on a previous “bad experience” in church. It may be due to our neglect of prayer and intercession on their behalf. All of these, without a doubt, contribute to the moral decline of America in general and the responsiveness of those we love and pray for in particular.

In addition to these, I am becoming more and more convinced that people in our culture are more difficult to reach than most others in the world. In part, the reason includes the fact that our culture has embraced the postmodern rejection of meta-narrative along with moral relativism, religious pluralism, and individual liberty. Creativity and innovation are a higher value to most than stability, continuity, and tradition. Everyone’s reality is defined by the individual rather than by an outside standard or authority. One author declared, “Reality has confronted imagination, and reality has lost.”

Recently, Marjie and I viewed a National Geographic documentary called “Monsters of the Deep.” Allegedly, the story was about the life journey of a pre-historic sea creature. The 45 minute film was approximately 90% computer generated animation depicting the conditions this little creature experienced from birth to death along with its adventures of escaping from the predators until finally experiencing a natural death. The entire story was so life like that one could easily assume the film depicted the actual life of this creature. However, the truth is that archaeologists found the skeletal remains of an animal with a shark tooth embedded in a bone, and from that one finding, the story was created known as “Monsters of the Deep.” Interesting! Educational? Never mind, if it is true or not. Imagination developed a story based on very little evidence but depicted it in a most believable way.

This is the context of our culture and how people get their information and how they form their views of the world around us. Their belief system is influenced by many such visual and audio presentations, usually without their critiquing the reality of what has been communicated.

What does this have to do with faith in Christ? Everything! As Christians, we deal with reality. The foundation of our faith is not based on imagination or virtual reality. It is founded on the historical fact of Jesus actual birth, life, death, and resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven. It calls for total commitment to a God who must be trusted and believed in as the Lord of all and Savior through his atoning sacrifice on the cross. Total, absolute commitment to the Creator of the universe is not what people are normally looking for. That would cost and require too much.
Here is my question: How can we communicate this greatest of all messages in a more creative, imaginative manner without compromising the truth of God’s Word? What have you done to spark people’s imagination through creative means in your church or ministry?