Smokey is a timid terrified little thing. I’ve never seen a feline better personify the old idiom “scaredy-cat”. She likes to hide under the dining room table and pretty much only comes out to eat or visit the litter box. On the rarest of occasions she will leave her little hiding spot to seek attention from Jamie or myself.
Last night after arriving home from doing some teaching on Christian leadership I was heating some leftovers in the microwave. Smokey started to meow. Instead of pulling out a kitchen chair and picking her up, for the first time in the two years we’ve had her, I pulled out a chair and crawled under the table to give her attention. She loved it. I went where she felt safe and met one of her primary feline needs, attention. For the next several minutes she was a happy little purr machine.
Most of my experience with non-Christians over the years has shown me that they are much the same. On the rarest of occasions they will seek out our worship centers, but mostly what goes on within the walls of our meeting places remains a source of intimidation, confusion, or ridiculousness to the non-believer. I have spent a lot of time during my career studying various aspects of “church growth” principles and things of that nature; but the more I read, lecture, and learn the greater I understand that we are missing the point on a grand scale.
As believers we’ve grown incredibly comfortable within the walls of our meeting places (too comfortable I’d say) and we want desperately to draw the lost into those same meeting places so that they might find the same kind of spiritual comfort that we have come to enjoy. This is completely backwards.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28: 18-20
He said GO, and go we must if we are to ever reach out to the hurting and lost souls He loves so much. We must be willing to leave behind the way we’ve always done it and look for new ways to connect with the disconnected. Let’s go.
