The Counter Insurgent Church

Recently I was listening to a christian radio station and a segment came on about what the church's role is. The speaker spoke about a friend who is the military as part of the counter insurgent team. Basically his role is to make friends with the Afghanistan citizens. He goes into more detail by explaining that 5% of the citizens there are pro American and democracy, 5% are anti American and pro Taliban, and 90% don't care or haven't picked a side. As part of the counter insurgency team, his job is to make friends with the undecided 90% to gain support for democracy.

This then lead to the discussion of this idea being applied to the church. We could think of the world's population being broken down in the same way: 5% of the population is Christian (or at least believes in Jesus and/or God), 5% being anti-christian, and the other 90% being neither.

This is an interesting and basic way of looking at the church. This may seem like an extreme analogy and that is not what is intended. The church isn't some militant group, but it's role is not indifferent from the role of the counter insurgent team.

The church's job is to spread the word of God, to witness to as many as possible. Their are going to be those who, despite the efforts of the church, will not turn from their evil ways. However, there is a greater amount of people that do not know about God or have ever had Christianity explained to them. Maybe they have had negative run ins with christians or specific church's that have left them scared but not completely turned them against.

In the book of Acts, Jesus calls on the church (at the time it was just the disciples) to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. That is the role of the church. That 90% is out there... waiting. Maybe you, the one reading this right now, is part of that 90% and want better understand this whole Christianity thing. Or maybe you are part of the 5% that are considered to Christians to some degree, but are unclear of the role of the church.

This analogy is bold, it's edgy, and possibly controversial. But it doesn't have to be. It doesn't mean any harm and it's not meant to give a militant structure to the church. That needs to be clear. However, if the church approached their role, their outreach, in the same manner as the counter insurgency team over seas, maybe more Christians and non-Christians alike will better understand the role of the church, rather than relying on the stigmas and expectations that have been created.