Reaching Out

Last Monday we delivered bread around the neighborhood as a way of introducing ourselves. Robert, a guy I met from the gym decided to help me out, he actually volunteered without me having to ask him. Out of the many houses we encountered one visit particularly was memorable. We met a nice college student who was drinking a beer on his front porch. I told him who I was and what we were trying to do. He seemed cool with what I was saying. Robert reached in the bag to give him a loaf of bread and the college student politely said that we didn’t have to waste our bread on him. He said it in a way like he didn’t matter at all. This interaction has troubled me for a few days. There are people we meet everyday, not just in the 40505 (The Rock/La Roca UMC) but just about everywhere. What is the potential for churches when they reach out to folks who don’t think they matter? The problem is that some of these people will never come to a church unless we either go out to them or give them something to come to. Why did crowds follow Jesus? There was something more to this God-Man than performing miracles and giving a good sermon but I believe it was they way Jesus made them. Jesus looked at people liked they mattered to him. Perhaps the church should do the same.