Category — Outflow

Outreach is the redheaded stepchild of most churches. Leaders don’t know what to do with it. Everyone wants to add to their numbers (the fruit of outreach) but few are willing to invest the resources needed to reach out (the cost of outreach). Regardless of any apparent shortages up front the real issue is ideas. If we have enough of them we will prosper no matter else is going on.

The third Person of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit—is the One who is capable of stirring stellar creativity in us. When pushed to the limits of our resources we typically grow frustrated with the system we are working with. We can easily become angry that we aren’t being understood, or even that God has forgotten about us in our struggle. Try this instead: ask the Holy Spirit to give you one of his ideas. He has unlimited creativity. He has an idea to meet your need. As you call out to him he will meet you with exactly what you need for your conundrum. He is generous with his inspired thoughts. When you get to the limit of your thoughts ask God to impart his. He never has a shortage.

Making a difference in this life–that’s a topic that is often discussed in literature, the news, or over drinks and dinner. It’s something that many of us aspire to in moments of altruism. It seems like everyone wants to step out of make a difference one way or another, even those people who are far from a relationship with Christ. There is something built into the human psyche that desires to make a difference in this world. Perhaps it’s part of what God has placed in us. Perhaps it’s part of the glowing ember that remains in each of us from our fall in the Garden.
Do you want make a difference? Does your church want to make a difference in your community? Here’s a simple idea that I can guarantee will connect in your city no matter what the unique circumstances you have going on are: provide lots of opportunities to care for the poor.
Jesus promised us that the poor we will always have with us. His statement may seem like a passing comment in the Gospels with little meaning but I see it as much more. He gave us an everlasting promise of employment. No matter where we live the poor are not far away.
The people of your church have an inbuilt, God-given desire to give their lives away to others who will appreciate their gift–to people whose lives will be changed by their gift. That’s the poor we’re talking about. It’s not that difficult folks. Let’s get to it.

Nothing on earth is as powerful as an ongoing idea. We don’t know much about this because we quickly give up on our good ideas. We tend to think that we are boring others with our thoughts, when we have just gotten started…or that we have said all that can be said about a given topic, when we have just tapped the surface of things. This is just wrong-headed. Do we suffer Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) on a large scale? Maybe so. Perhaps ADD is contagious. It seems our bigger problem is along these lines…we have the patience of red ants.

We tend to convince ourselves we are boring others with our ongoing talk on a given topic. In reality we are unfocused, bratty or just playing to the applause of the crowd. Just at about the time we are absolutely, insanely bored with the 17th iteration of the topic we are looking to blow our brains out in frustration…it is then that the crowd begins to get what we have been saying all along. To carry out an idea requires humility more than intelligence. Fortitude more than forcefulness.

We went out to connect with retail shops by offering to clean their toilets. We simply walked into these places with our cleaning kits in hand and said, “Hi, we’re here to clean your toilets – for free – to show you a bit of God’s kindness.” Pretty much everyone gave us a funny look. They all said they didn’t want it – but I could tell they assumed we wanted a donation. I know they thought this. We had to say several times we were doing this strictly for free with no donations accepted at all. It was only after we had told them several times that this was for FREE and we weren’t taking donations that they lightened up. After that we were able to connect with them. We were able to tell them this was a way of conveying the love of God to our neighbors. They warmed up quickly after that.
The Church has a lot of work to do in this area. We need to get to work by conveying to the culture around us what we are about. It is common that people who aren’t a part of church (perhaps they are a part of church…) think we are all about raising money. It is almost inconceivable that Jesus’ followers would do something altruistic. We need to get to work by serving others in a big way.
At the same time this provides the Church with significant opportunities. We make a strong impact by serving in surprising ways. We are able to break through into people’s lives by doing simple, doable serving projects. I don’t have a corner on the market of ideas we need to be involved with but I have discovered a few things apparently connect with the watching world.
I pray for more hearts in the Church to be able to hear the challenge God is offering these days. I pray we can sense his calling out to the culture around us. As Jesus said the harvest is plentiful – it is the laborers that are few.

I have been working to launch teams of windshield washers. It has been a while since I last connected with strangers in this particular serving style. Found some very cool squeegees – they have metal handles and expand long enough that you can wash both sides of a large windshield at once. Got them at WalMart for about $5 per item. Went into WalMart to get equipped for both restroom cleaning and windshield washing. Ended up spending around $125 for a LOT of great serving equipment. It pays to go to a place like WalMart – it is easy to find the cool stuff needed and at a great price!