Promoting the necessity and urgency of missions is not for the fainthearted. It involves praying for open doors. It requires some commitment in time and travel. These past two months, I've shared in four southern California counties, including Ventura, Orange, LA and San Diego. In each location the challenge was shared to build bridges to our local communities and to our world. To confront our own prejudices and perspectives about the "worthiness" of others to hear and receive the message of grace.
How we represent Christ's presence in us to our family, friends and neighbors will be determined by our attitudes toward them. In order for us to reach our friends and neighbors for Jesus, there is the need to deal with our own perspectives of people. We challenge our preconceptions and prejudices, whether they are about color, ethnicity, orientation, disability/ability. Jesus didn't withhold his message of salvation based on the hearer's inherent goodness or social acceptability. Think of the ostracized woman at the well with her five former husbands and her current live-in partner. Or what about the man born blind who resided at the bottom of the social ladder? What of the woman caught in the very act of adultery and paraded before other men in her community?
Do we withhold the message of salvation from people because they don't fit our profile of "salvageable" or worthy? Who among us is worthy after all?
There is a danger if we cling too tightly to a mindset that classifies people in this way. We become dangerously close in attitude to the Pharisees of Jesus' day. Recall with me the situation in Luke 15: Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2, NASB). Do we grumble about a group of people as being "sinners." Are these people outside of God's ability to save and transform? Before we can approach those in our workplace or community, we first must deal with our own perspectives.
Once we are able to do that, we can begin to examine our communities in light of their needs and what it is that they may be seeking.
Secular sociologists tell us that people in the twenty-first century are looking for a sense of community. People are looking for a place to find friendship and fellowship. To share a common bond, to belong somewhere. Although we have resources like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to connect us globally, those resources don't really connect us to each other in a real person-to-person way.
Many sociologists agree that although we are more connected with each other electronically, we are also more isolated from each other personally. This generation has been called the loneliest generation. And the divisions are growing deeper. In the midst of the loneliest generation, we hold an important key to reaching our community for Jesus Christ.
Please pray as I have plans to travel to northern California to share the missions opportunity.
October 2 - San Lorenzo Japanese Christian Church - Change of plans. I will postpone my visit to San Lorenzo until a later date. This is due to some issues with my dialysis treatment and the question of my stamina, having to drive 16 hours in two days, to and from northern California.
November 13 - Orchard Valley Christian Church in Sunnyvale, CA.
