Reaching is Different Than Going

"How full is your schedule this fall?" he asked. "Not nearly as full as I would like," I said, "The economy is still biting us pretty hard." "I guess some churches don't set money aside for outreach like we do" he told me. "I guess not," I said.

All the way home that term haunted my thoughts. "Outreach" is a word I have heard all my life. It is a part of the American church vocabulary. Referring to ways in which the church leans outside its walls to touch the world, "outreach" is generally a positive term to the Christian. However, as the miles rolled beneath me, the taste of it grew increasingly bitter.

"Where are your feet if you're reaching?" I heard the Holy Spirit speak to my heart. "Firmly planted in one spot," I answered. "Where is that spot?" said the Spirit. "A safe distance away," was my reply. With that statement, I understood the point of the conversation and when I arrived home I opened my Bible to Matthew chapter 28 where I read these words. "Go into all the world and make disciples..."

There it was typed definitively in those blood-red words. I actually said it out loud to myself, "Reaching is different than going." I went on to read chapter after chapter full of examples of how Jesus never reached. He went. Over and over again, he placed himself smack in the middle of the people he was trying to reach with his love, his mercy, and his grace. He didn't stand in the temple, resplendent with its wealth, its community, and its resources. He didn't use programs or budgets from a safe distance. He got dirty in the mess of the lives of those who needed him. It didn't matter what they looked like, what they said, or where they lived. He showed up in the flesh and met them where they were. This is what I want to do. How about you?

Be God's
Greg