Reaching Out

Yesterday was a "local outreach" focus at our church. We heard some reports from some of our members involved in different aspects and a challenge to continue finding ways to make an impact in our community. A question I read on a blog recently and one that was asked from the pulpit yesterday was something like this; if your church went away tomorrow, would the community notice? or would they care? I think it's a great question for churches to ask.

I imagine there are a good number of our members who do things in the community quietly and without seeking praise or notice. I've written in the past about a song titled "If We Are The Body" and asks the question "if we are the body, what are we doing in the name of Christ?" Are we sitting in our pews teaching religion without touching anyone? Are we doing a lot of stuff but not teaching people the Good News?

I enjoyed the thoughts and questions that came to me yesterday because they challenge me to examine what I am doing to reach out to someone outside my circle, to reach out to someone who is hurting, to reach out to someone who is trying to find God.

I told my wife I wouldn't blog about Desperate Housewives but the fact is I watched most of it last night and there was a character who has been through a lot of tough times and decided to start a search for God. I have no idea where the show will go with that but there she was - someone looking for God and looking for someone to lead them to finding answers. This morning while watching GMA, they flashed a snippet of some forum the Democratic contenders were at where they were being asked questions about faith and the Bible. The point is, there are people who want to know more about God and the question to me is whether I will be available to them to help them find the answers and to help them find the loving mercy of our Savior.