More Than Friendly

More Than Friendly
by John Fischer



In her book, Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America, Temple University professor Dr. Colleen McDannell has discovered a certain kind of Christian in America who seeks to only interact with those who share their Christian beliefs and cultural lifestyle. From her study as a sociologist, she makes a number of very acute observations about this American Christian, the most telling being: “With their non-Christian neighbors they are friendly but rarely best friends.”

I am well acquainted with this kind of thinking. I grew up with it. I was encouraged to be on friendly terms with non-Christians but to have only Christian friends. I'm pretty sure this was more for our protection than anything. Meanwhile, while we were learning to be good Christians, who was left to tell the others about Jesus? Unfortunately that's how we developed gospel tracks and door-to-door evangelism. Hit and run witnessing, I call it. Get in; get out; stay clean.

I have no doubt that Christ would want us to be more than just friendly to those who are not of the household of faith. He would want us to be friends. That's the way He did it when He was here. In fact his friends were quite scandalous among the religious leaders of the day. Word was, Jesus was “a friend of the worst sort of sinners” (Luke 7:34).

Being friendly is just not going to get anybody into the kingdom of heaven. Being a friend will. It takes love, patience, and longsuffering with even the most cantankerous of unbelievers for walls of resistance to break down. And it takes time. But that's what a true friendship is -- caring for someone over the long haul, and letting someone care for you, too. Friendship is always a two-way street.

It's been statistically shown that people who become Christians typically lose all regular contact with their non-Christian friends within two years. What's wrong with this picture? For brand new believers, it may be necessary for a season to stay away from former influences, but this is never to be a permanent situation.

Let's think about our neighbors today, and our work related associates, and think about how we can be more than just friendly. Think of it this way: we are the carriers of Christ. If we remain distant, we are depriving others of the opportunity to come into contact with Him. After all, Christ in you is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) -- hope for me, hope for you, and hope for our friends. This is why being friendly just isn't good enough.