Creating safe spaces for conversations has become a reoccurring theme on several ministry projects I'm currently involved with. When I think of safe spaces for deep conversations the words intentional, honesty, trust, mutual respect, love, humility, authenticity, gentleness, and confidentiality all come to mind.
It made me wonder how many faith communities intentionally create safe
spaces for those who are not Christians to stop in and engage in conversations to explore, experience, debate
and perhaps even disagree with the claims of Christianity?
One of the things I often help church leaders think through is how they might help people move forward on their spiritual journey's: from being outside the church, to actively seeking , to surrender to Christ, on to growing as a believer. Does your church have a path in place to help people move from place to place as they grow?
Interesting Facts:
- One of the biggest barriers for people outside the church: their own negative experiences with church, Christians and/or those they considered to be religious people.
(based on eleven years of my own experience, engaging non-Christians in conversations about spiritual questions: 80% of the people I spoke with had a bad religious/church experience)
- The first step for many seekers who came to faith in Christ learning to trust a Christian
(2000 new converts were interviewed about their spiritual journey in Don Evert's book
I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus) A great read by the way!
Safe spaces for seekers to engage in no pressure conversations about spiritual questions, often allows God the freedom and space He needs to break into individual lives. Can you locate those safe spaces within your faith community?
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