Welcome to the ghetto

I think what is most damning is the failure of the church, as Christ's body, to actually DO something constructive. There is a trend for Christians to become insulated from the world rather than heed the biblical injunction to "be in the world but not of it". This condition has come to be known as living in a Christian "ghetto". If one is not in the world, one cannot very well be the "salt and light of the world" that the Bible says they must be.

Here's a case study: Jack and Sally are married and live in a community that has a high percentage of Christian church attendees. Sally is a homemaker and home-schools the children. The children are doing well, even scoring well above their peers in standardized testing. Jack is a senior representative with a major Christian book publisher, working from home and occasionally at the office. He has to travel but not frequently— he can spend more time with his family than he could in most jobs. They are very active in their church. Their typical weekly schedule looks like this:

Sunday: At the time of the 8:30 AM service, Sally teaches a Sunday-school class for 11 year olds; Jack serves as an usher at the service. The kids have their own teen Sunday-school class. 10:00 AM; Jack and Sally meet and attend the second service. The kids go to the youth center where there is a service for younger folks. Afternoon: Sunday dinner with another church family (often). 6:00 PM- back to church for the evening service.

Monday: Special events as scheduled. Jack attends a weekly meeting of church members serving on the building program committee (no modern Christian church is complete without "the building program"). Sally does phone work for the women's adult Sunday-school classes.

Tuesday: At 7:00 PM volunteers meet at the church and get assignments for visitation-- calling at the homes of people who filled-in requests the previous Sunday and turned them in at the services. This lasts until 9:00 PM or later depending upon how long each visit takes.

Wednesday: Family dinner at the church at 6:00 PM followed by a prayer meeting with " praise & worship" music. This lasts until 8:30 PM.

Thursday: Everyone gets a night off. For the Smiths, this is family night and they usually watch a movie rented from the local Christian store or play a Christian-themed board game.

Friday: Special events as scheduled: Missions dinner, music department dinner, special prayer meetings, etc.

Saturday: Workday for volunteers to help with the food drive, paint scenery for the Christmas pageant, etc.

Here's the problem: All these events are wonderful but the majority occur at the church, usually for and by the church people. Jack and Sally spend their time with Christian friends, have only Christian activities and Jack even has a Christian employer. In short, they have been ghetto-ized. When do they get out on the street where Jesus did His work? How do they meet the world at its own level? If these folks remain in this self-imposed prison they cannot fulfill step one of Jesus' "Great Commission" which states: "GO into the whole world........"

I have seen many cases where the church's so-called 'outreach' consists of making the world come to the church building (or "campus", if I may use the newest trendy moniker) to participate in church activities. That's not what Jesus meant when He said, "go". The battle must be fought on the street, not inside the sanctuary. How can you rescue hostages who are still slaves to sin unless you go to where they are, do what you must to defeat the enemy, and gain the captives' release?

Jack and Sally and their brothers and sisters in Christ mean well and may well be devout Christians. Too bad the enemy has them trapped inside the church ghetto where they will do him very little harm.