#114 | Rediscovering The Apostolic Imagination | J.D. Payne

Travis welcomes J.D. Payne to the show!

Church buildings and Christian resources are everywhere in North America, but increasingly we have lost the ability to speak to our neighbors who are on the “outside” of the church The Church is exploding in other parts of the world, but we see more and more empty churches here in the United States. What gives? 

Many churches in the West believe that unbelievers would come if we just had better buildings, programs, or preachers. Others believe that is all about how to market yourself. 

But Christians are quickly becoming a minority in our culture. We are increasingly aware that the “if you build it they will come” mindset is no longer working. People simply aren’t coming to us. What are we to do?

We need a new way of thinking, or perhaps an old one. J.D. Payne has a solution: adopt the mindset of the apostles. We often forget that the earliest Christians were a faith minority in the first century. They didn't possess a lot of cultural power or capital. In fact, they operated in a hostile world, yet they grew quickly. What if we were to develop a similar mindset—one that doesn’t ask unbelievers to come to us, instead asking how we might go to them? What if we took the time to cultivate an apostolic imagination? 

If you have a holy discontent with the status quo. If you think our contemporary approaches are failing, then this episode is for you. It is illuminating, and hope-giving, and will encourage and equip you to begin to think differently so that you can reach people where you are in a fresh and life-giving way. 

Check out J.D.'s page.

His podcast Strike the Match.

His books.

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