Category — Confessions

…once they experience a bit of the joy of it. I use the term “Kindness outreach” instead of “Servant Evangelism” at first to woo people into the cusp of outreach, but then I don’t worry about using the “E” word. Once they experience it they are no longer fearful. As one formerly fearful guy recently asked as he beamed, “Does this ever get old?”

Like most people, I’m an introvert by nature. The ironic truth is, I struggle with the notion of doing an outreach every time it comes to going out to serve others. The consistent thought that goes through my mind is, “Isn’t there a book I need to read?” Or, “Don’t I need to study something right now?” Even though I have been doing outreach for 30 years I still go through this routine each time an outreach is scheduled. If that is the way I’m wired I suspect there is something in you that that resists reaching out. The bottom line is this – sometimes it’s best to not be ourselves.

I am officially skeptical of the term “missional” at this point in the game. I have heard and read a pile of material on mission this and mission that, but have seen precious few practical results. I am fairly convinced that most of those who write under the rubric “missional” are confessing that they know little of practical outreach. The word is mostly a theory in spite of its promise to stimulate an outward focus.
It can become an end in itself to study and discuss the attributes of outreach while never getting around to actual outreach. It has become faddish to talk missional but not actually do missional. On the other hand, the term “evangelism” is in your face and practical. It may be more of an old-fashioned term but everyone knows that it is activational. There is no doubt that when one uses the “E” word one is talking about actually doing something. Call me crazy, but I suggest we drop the “M” word in favor of the tried and true “E” word.

I mean minimizing what can go haywire.
A lot of what I tried to do early on in the Christian life was high-risk ministry. That is, a lot could go wrong. Sometimes a lot did go wrong. There were a lot of moving parts to go haywire. It was marked with complexity so there was the great possibility that something would go wrong. The more complex we make something the more likely it is to break down.
I like cars that are cool. A friend of mine has an amazing car that has a lot of features. It is quite impressive, or at least it was impressive for its first 18 months until little things started going wrong with many of the shiny dodads. It wasn’t long after that that the manufacturer’s warranty expired, then he was stuck with a vehicle that was riddled nit picky problems that drove him crazy. It got to the point that he couldn’t even get his windows to roll down without investing $500. Ouch! There is an outreach lesson to the wise in this car story. Sometimes it’s better to stick with the basic model and steer clear of things that are the extravagant versions.

I’ve done a lot of things that have gone south, especially in the realm of outreach. I’m at the point now where I seek to minimize the risk as much as possible. Instead of going for the glitzy, I say let’s just go with the basic approach that will get us from point A to point B efficiently. Quick, easy, no one gets hurt. Let’s wash cars. Let’s clean toilets. Let’s mow lawns. Let’s knock on doors at the trailer park and give away juicy, fresh hot hamburgers by asking, “How many would you like?” There’s not a lot of room for error there. There’s not a lot that can go wrong. I like that. I think you will too. Let’s go do some damage to the powers of darkness.

Today I went out with a serving team to give away free flower seeds near our church in Oregon. One lady I ran into was a little skeptical – she wouldn’t open her door. She rather reluctantly received some sunflower seeds, but she shut her screen door after taking the seeds. Of all the people I encountered today she was the only one I felt led to pray for. I asked, “Is there anything I could support you in prayer for?” She said, “Well, I have lost my two sons in the past three weeks.” Wow. How do you recover from a statement like that. I offered to pray for her for just “ten seconds.” She thought that sounded nice. She spontaneously placed her hand up on the screen, palm stretched out to me. I kept my prayer to ten seconds. I prayed for God’s mercy to come near to my new friend, Peggy. I then blessed her house with the peace of God, in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She welled up with tears. It was a moment.