What does this phrase mean??? Can anyone tell me??? It gets bashed out in missional church circles but no one explains what they mean...

Now I agree with the sentiment that has been discussed regarding passion for the lost and the constant need for renewal in our salt and light efforts... but I think if we embrace the "anything short of sin" mentality then we are walking a dangerous line that does not need to be walked.

The bible does not encourage us to do this... if so where? In fact if you look at the outreach efforts in Acts the thing that drew crowds to hear the gospel could be categorized into miracles, preaching of the word, following the Holy Spirit's lead, the changed life of the Apostles, engaging with the community leadership, etc... I don't see anything here about anything short of sin.

In fact I think the reasons the West lacks the evangelisitic success of the developing world are many and varied... but I don't think it is as simple as needing a kick in the pants to get out on the mission field. I think the core of the problem lies in the fact that teaching became a boring comfortable and intellectual exercise in the church instead of the spirit-filled rebuke, teach, challenge, correct, and encouragement it is supposed to be. Dry teaching (that is not teaching at all) led to dry churches and cry Christians... but solutions so far have tried to put the horse before the cart.

Churches who saw a teaching drought tried to replace their boring sermons and bible studies with motivational messages and life groups but the problem was this was like putting a facade over a deeper problem... the problem is that people need to be challenged from God's word, people need Spirit-filled teaching and discipleship and they need to be filled with the Spirit in their own lives. If a Christian is constantly in God's word, constantly seeking the Spirit and constantly open to HIs lead, then they will naturally be salt and light.

My solution is to ensure that the full range of ministry is active in a church but to start with the teaching. this is what the early church did - devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching... if Christians are built up through the word, walking in step with the spirit and equipped to have an answer for the hope they have - then they will see many evangelistic opportunities in their life! they will not need to do anything short of sin... they will just need to walk close to the Spirit which is nothing like sin!