We reach out to people and welcome them into the church
We have a direct responsibility for people of the “world” around our church, the community in which we study, work, shop, play, and so forth. In this world are people with many hurts, doubts, and questions. There are some who are new in the community and feel a little lost, some who are proudly self-sufficient, and others who are in desperate circumstances. Our mission is to reach out to them, listen to them, accept them, share the gospel in word and deed, invite them into the family of faith, and joyfully receive all who will respond.
We relate people to God and help them deepen their relationship with God
The second task in making disciples is to offer people opportunities for growing closer to God. Whether they are visitors or old-time members, just beginning the journey of faith or well along the road—all are in need of God’s love in Christ. Through worship, prayer, study, and honest sharing, we help one another discover that the Holy Spirit is not far off but present with us, wanting an open and loving friendship with each of us—not only friendship but commitment as well. Through our congregation’s various ministries we encourage one another to give ourselves to Christ.
We nurture people in Christian living
Third, our congregation’s mission is to nurture people of all ages in the Christian faith and to help them practice the disciplines of discipleship. The church exists not to serve itself but to serve the world. We come to church not only for our own personal enrichment but also to prepare ourselves to do the work of love and to get ready to be Christ’s disciples in the community. Through worship, baptism, Communion, Bible study, prayer, and other means of grace, we’re strengthened for ministry.
We support people in their ministry
We’re sent into the community to serve those in need and to make our community more loving and just. We believe that the Holy Spirit empowers and guides us in these ministries and that wherever there’s need and suffering, we meet Christ, already at work. But still, we cannot be effective in ministry on our own. So the congregation exists, in part, to surround and support each member in his or her ministry.Email Subscription:
So, what happens to people that die never hearing about Jesus?
Here’s one of my favorite quotes on the subject of Evangelism.
“Someone asked Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we — who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not — can be saved.” — Charles Spurgeon
God is just and we will all give an account based on what we know and what we did with what we know. People who have never known Jesus still have a daily choice to do right or to do the wrong they know they shouldn’t. People who know Jesus and know what Jesus stood for, however, have no excuse for rejecting His message. Most often people confuse Jesus’ message of faith, hope and love with the church’s struggle to live accordingly. They are not the same.
I am not sure how that is an answer. 🙂
I think the answer you’re looking for is vague and not as specific as you might like. It depends. People who have never heard of Jesus but are doing and living the kind of life Jesus exemplified will be right at home in heaven with all the saints who have served and loved jesus all their lives.
Those who don’t know Jesus and live only for themselves at the expense of others won’t want the kind of Kingdom Jesus came to bring to the earth. A Kingdom where the greatest are the servants.
So… What Happens To People Who Don’t Know Jesus? The Choice is Their to Make by How They Live. It Depends.
So if a person is “good” and never heard of Jesus, they will go to heaven?
Two verse come to mind.
1 John 4:16 “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”
1 John 4:8 “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
To love and give yourself to another is an expression of God-life in you.
Also Read Romans 2
“All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”
Maybe a simple “yes” or “no”?
So let me get this straight.
You want to know what happens after death, to people who don’t know Jesus, regardless of whether they were “good” and you want it as a simple YES or NO?
Good Luck with that!
Maybe what your looking for is the minimum entrance requirements. I can’t help you there.
No, not regardless. I was asking about the good ones.
How do you define “good”? By whose standard?
If you’re not “good” then what are you?
Can “not good” people be in God’s Presence (Heaven)?
I appreciate your interest and you’re questions. I’m not trying to dismiss your questions but to think through them with you and ask what it means to be good, who is good and how we know what really being good is like. This is where Jesus comes in. Jesus calls us to God’s standard of goodness, and offers us forgivenss when we miss the mark. Those who don’t know Jesus don’t know his forgiveness, grace, and mercy and are dependent upon their own actions. Is it possible to love perfectly without Jesus, I doubt it, but I trust God to hold us accountable for what we know not what we don’t.