Jonah's Going

So about ten years ago I was a part of a staff team that led a large group of students through the book of Jonah. The "take home" for us then was the call to "GO" to the places on campus where we (wrongly) thought that the grace of God couldn't possibly reach. Obvious places included the gay community, the communities of different religions, portions of the arts community, etc. We wanted students to get out of the Christian bubble and be actively engaged with different communities on different parts of campus.

In thinking about preparing Jonah ten years later, the situation is different. Our reporting nation wide as a movement have shown that by and large InterVarsity students across the country are way more connected to the broader campus than they were back in the old days. They have moved out of the dreaded Christian bubble.

But what we haven't seen along with that is a rise in the number of people who are responding to an invitation to Christ.

So this year as I'm preparing and looking over Jonah, the message is still "GO"...but go with the message. Students have been so deeply indoctrinated with the message of tolerance and pluralism that they are connected relationally but have been cowed by the culture to not speak a message of hope and forgiveness and redemption.

Obviously, this is something of a correction in our Christian culture. Christians have historically (and still some today) done evangelism poorly and obnoxiously. But realistically, 99% of my students are far, far from obnoxious. We have over-corrected. We have been sent by God to be a part of his work on campus. We're fine (for the most part) if that means doing something nice for people--which is a good thing. But we're very, very, very slow to speak the message that God has given us to bring.

Most students, both Christian and not, have a deep-seated loathing of the heavy-handed evangelistic tactics of fifty years ago. But really, that was fifty years ago. Those folks are still around but they are fewer and further between. If we go but do not go with our message, our going is a building of straw.

I hope being with students in Jonah can help us move towards a more faithful, reckless, winsome, joyful going with the message that we've been entrusted to go with.