While there are several inhibitors related to communicating the gospel, there are 2 major barriers today undermining the rapid spread of the gospel: 

BARRIERS TO CHRISTIANS

There are longstanding spiritual, cultural, and intellectual habits and/or traditions among most Christians that have become barriers to talking freely about Christ.

So, why do Christians find it difficult to share the gospel?  In part, because of:

  • MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SALVATION 

    Many Christians have a shallow understanding about how radically sin separates us from God, what it cost God to save someone (see Luke 7.36-50 and why the woman anoints Jesus’ feet) and how much God loves mankind.  Others miss living in the joy of being saved!  And others are unaware of the power they have through the Holy Spirit.  And some wrongly assume one’s salvation is a private matter, between the individual and God.

  • FEAR 

    For most, the very thought of talking about Jesus causes a paralysis created by fear, inhibiting them for years, decades or a lifetime, from sharing the gospel with a family member, neighbor or coworker (even Paul asked for prayer to not give in to fear – Ephesians 6.19 – 20).

     

  • LACK OF TRAINING 

    For many Christians, FEAR can come from simply not having not been trained on how to communicate the gospel or share about how Christ has impacted their life.

  • CHRISTIAN CULTURE “LITE”

    Many today have been raised in a Christian culture with little Bible reading, teaching, prayer, and serving others.  ‘Going to church’ was sufficient.  But like seeds on rocky soil, this leads to a shallow spiritual life.

  • WORLDLINESS

    Unfortunately, tin an affluent culture many succumb to the enticements and distractions of the world, programmed by the culture to pursue fun, pleasure, and entertainment, instead of developing the discipline of a true disciple of Christ.

  • CULTURAL CHRISTIANS 

    Then there are people raised in a church - 3rd, 5th, or 8th generation ‘Christians’.  They have things in common with those they go to church with: they hold to a shared set of values/morals; they may live in the same subdivisions; they vacation together; they are of the same social strata, and may share the same ethnicity.  Unfortunately, they don’t tend to grow in holiness and discipleship where their walk in Jesus is ever new and fresh, and where they can look back and see spiritual progress the last 6 months.  The Bible is a good book, just not their ultimate authority and guide.  These are people who have a form of religion but don’t live in its power. 

BARRIERS TO NON-CHRISTIANS

There is an overlapping but different set of spiritual, cultural, and intellectual barriers non-Christians have, that keep them from hearing about, knowing, and trusting Christ. 

The person who is not connected to Christ has spiritual, cultural, and intellectual barriers that keep them from Christ, several of which are interrelated:

  • LOSS OF IDENTITY 

Because they don’t know Christ, they know (Romans 1) and at the same time don’t know (2 Corinthians 4.4):  

  • who they are 

  • where they have come from 

  • why they exist 

  • how to tell right from wrong, outside of their feelings 

  • where they are going when they die

  • SPIRITUAL LOSTNESS 

    While the unbeliever knows where he/she is physically, he/she is blind as to where they are at spiritually, as pertains to the lostness of his/her own soul (Luke 15; 19.10).  This is portrayed through metaphors in the Bible, such as being blind, deaf, dead, and lost. 

     

  • ‘DISCONNECT’ FROM ULTIMATE TRUTH 

    When people follow their own heart and not Jesus, they become disconnected from the truth of the gospel, like a ship untethered from its anchor and adrift in the ocean (Romans 1.18, 25; 1 John 2.4). 

     

  • LACK OF TEACHING 

    Sadly, many people in our country and throughout the world have not had fathers or mentors teach them the way to live in Jesus, and the only models in their lives were those who exhibited god-less lifestyles (Deuteronomy 6.5 – 9; Mark 7.7). 

     

  • MISUNDERSTANDINGS 

    Many people have basic misunderstandings about God, Jesus, the Bible, sin, why we need to be ‘saved’, how to be saved, the church, etc. 

     

  • MORAL RELATIVISM 

    When there is a loss of identity, true spirituality, and truth, people lose the framework on which to discern right from wrong, good from bad, light from darkness.  And because individuals and communities want to retain their own autonomy, they invent their own standards of right and wrong.  One of those standards is called ‘moral relativism’: the irrational belief that individuals can create their own standard and believe What is true for you, may not be true for me.   

     

  • LOSS OF MEANING 

    Sadly, being outside of Christ creates a loss of true meaning and purpose in life, in which each soul is adrift in a sea of meaninglessness and, as Francis Schaeffer said, ‘they have their feet firmly planted in midair’. 

So, what must we do?

We need to:

Understand barriers lost people have… 

Overcome our own barriers, and then…  

Do what Jesus told His disciples to do:  

Go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And look, I am with you…to the end.

Matthew 28 

Overcoming these barriers and restoring the early church’s example

is what Breaking the Barriers is all about.