To Catch a Fish, You Have to Think Like a Fish

You can’t be a good fisherman unless you learn to think like a fish. You need to learn their habits, preferences and feeding patterns if you want to catch them. Certain fish like smooth, still waters. Others like the rushing rivers. Certain fish are bottom-feeders. Others like to hide among the rocks. If you don’t understand the patterns of the fish you’re trying to catch, you’re wasting your time.

The same is true when you’re trying to reach people with the gospel. Jesus gives us a great example of someone thinking like a fish.

The Bible says in Luke 6:8, “Jesus knew what they were thinking.” In fact, multiple times in Scripture we read that Jesus knew what people were thinking.

But here’s the problem: The longer you are a Christian, the less you think like an unbeliever. I don’t think like a non-Christian; I think like a Christian. In fact, I think like a pastor. That’s even worse. It’s two steps removed from the people I want to reach. Read More

This article is a repost. However. Rick Warren makes a number of important points in this article of which, I believe, we need to be frequently reminded. The unchurched differ from community to community. While they may have some things in common, it is a mistake to treat them as if they are the same. Unfortunately we have a tendency to do just that. I am speaking primarily of Anglicans but it is a tendency Anglicans share with other Christians. We also tend to want them to think in the way we want them to think rather than in the way they do think.

While doing some online research on how the terms "high church" and "low church" are used, I came across this article, "Right or Wrong? High-church Liturgy," on the Baptist Standard website. It is typical of a number of articles that I have come across on the internet. It draws attention to the attraction that some Millennials have to liturgical forms of worship using ritual, ceremonial, and vestments. These articles, while they may, like this article, refer to extensive research done on Millennials, do not back their conclusions with research but rely heavily on anecdotal evidence.

Some Millennials are indeed attracted to liturgical worship. But the research, as Ed Stetzer has pointed out, does not support the assumption that an attraction to liturgical worship is characteristic of all Millennials. Unfortunately a number of Christians who identify themselves as Anglican and are themselves attracted to what this article describes as "high church liturgy," assume that it is a characteristic of all Millennials. They do not take the time to get to know the Millennial and other unchurched population groups in their community and then tailor their worship based upon that knowledge.

It is comparable to fishing with a particular fishing lure such as spinners because you like that lure. However, the spot that you have chosen to fish in and the most abundant fish in that spot are not attracted to spinners. You go home at the end of the day with nothing in your creel. While you can blame the fish for not biting, the fault is really yours. You did not take the time learn about the habits, preferences and feeding patterns of the fish most often caught in that spot. This may explain why--at least in part--some Anglican churches do not do well in the communities in which they were planted.