TWELVE %

A study revealed that Jesus spent 12% of his time in Church or Synagogue and 88% outside among the people. The first Christians were Jews and they were excommunicated from their synagogues. They began to meet in homes and out of the way places. Families and entire households became Christians and a new format for the expansion of the gospel. The importance of this movement was that Jesus was in the hearts of His followers that took Him out into the community and world. This prevented the early Christians from relegating Jesus to a certain location like the Jews had relegated God to the temple. Unfortunately, four centuries later, Christians too placed Jesus in places like Antioch, Alexandria, Rome and Constantinople where single individuals became sole representatives of Christ. This led to disagreements, disputes and to the Protestant Reformation. Ultimately, Protestants also built local place for Jesus and people got the idea that Jesus had to be situated in these sanctuaries. Particularly, Evangelicals around the world appear to hold firmly to the idea that Jesus is more present with their Churches than with the others. Well, be it done unto them, as they believe.

The evidence, however, points in another direction. The majority of people aligned with local churches spent 14% of their time in these buildings. Each one of these single congregations does most of their religious and social functions in their churches. They have become a tiny world within a secular society. The mission of the members is to bring in the strays where Jesus is present to save them from their sins and absolve them of their guilt. Their acceptance of Jesus releases them from all accountability and responsibility of the past and gives them a clean bill of health. Any attempt by a convert to correct some wrong is being construed as work and that is an insult to God' grace. Once a believer is in that environment, it becomes difficult to awake him or her from their slumber. Please do not judge the sleeper harshly because we have all been injected with the formula: “Saved by faith through grace and not of works lest we boast.”

What are Christians doing during the 86% of their time outside their local churches? Only Jesus represented God 100%. The rest of us are depicted in the Parable of the Sower (Lk.8:1-15). The large majority, namely 75% are on the roadside, among the thorns and on rocks. Of the 25%, eight and one third give 30%, eight and one third give 60% and eight and one third give 100%. Statistics shall agree with the Parable that only 25% of confessing Christians are doing something for or in the name of Jesus; but only one third of the 25% do their best for Christ. They have Christ live in them and they take Him everywhere they live and work. The secret of these faithful ones is that Christ lives in their hearts and not in a local church. Like the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus did not meet her in a temple or on a hill but where her greatest need was (Jn.4).