Social Pain and Mission
UCLA Professor Matthew Lieberman says the same brain region that expresses physical pain also expresses social pain. Lieberman offers scientific evidence to counter the idea that the need to survive and reproduce is the fundamental driver of human behavior. He believes social connection is the fundamental human need. He believes our urge to connect is wonderful as we cannot do things on our own. Jesus said that we must love our neighbour as we love ourselves. The social pain of rejection is at the root of ineffective mission. We generally brush aside rejection as being not as painful say as a broken leg, but in fact it is very painful. We need to pay attention to this pain and bring healing otherwise we will continue to have ineffective mission. Invite someone to take a closer look at Christ and his church.
