Francis Chan: The path to relevance is to become unpopular and rejected like Jesus
Pastor Francis Chan said that the Church became irrelevant and the only way to be relevant again is to be unpopular and rejected just as Jesus suffered in His time.
The popular preacher and New York Times bestselling author spoke in front of thousands of young Millennials, who attended the "Together 2016" event at National Mall in Washington D.C. Saturday, July 16. The event centered on the idea that "Jesus changes everything."
The Church became irrelevant and badly needs some reset, Chan told the crowd. However, employing popular means of trying to fit in would not place the Church back to relevance. Rather, Chan said it's the opposite.
"The path to relevance is not by trying to fit in," said Chan. "It's by standing out. It's not by becoming popular but it is by becoming rejected."
The 48-year-old author of "Crazy Love" then quoted the Scripture of Matthew 10 where Jesus revealed to his followers the struggles they'd have to face.
Chan compared Jesus' revelation to that of the present times where people are too concerned about being popular and "being liked and getting 'Likes.'"
"Jesus says the way to become significant and to have an impact is through rejection. That is what He just said," explained Chan.
He also turned to his Bible again and quoted Hebrews 13:12 to preach that Jesus suffered rejection as people decided to crucify Him on the cross.
Chan also talked about suffering earlier this year when he addressed the students at Liberty University. He said that Jesus came down on earth with the idea that He'll serve and give up His life and not the other way around. So if people adopt this same mentality, Chan taught, then it'll be easier to embrace suffering as a way to defeat sin.
Chan declared that he'll stand alongside Jesus and be "rejected with Him" before he threw his challenge to the crowd.
He said, "We have prayed together today and we have worshiped together today. The question is are we willing to be rejected together?"
