Chuck Ryor

Bill Hybels, pastor of Willowcreek Community Church in Barrington, IL, speaks of having a “holy discontent.”  This holy discontent is birthed in the hearts of individual believers when they see the world or the church in a state of disarray or disrepair and they can no longer sit quietly and do nothing about it. This inner burden is often what births political or religious movements.  It’s what is birthing Prism Church of Los Angeles.

I have been a church pastor for 15 years, and served in parachurch ministry for a couple of years previous to working in the church.  For the many years that preceded this vocational calling, I passionately shared Jesus with friend and foe alike.  If they were interested in hearing about the gospel, I was aching to tell them about the friend we have in Jesus.  I had numerous friendships with people who didn’t know Jesus and felt like my world was a mission field.  I was living a missional Christian life and experiencing the joy of being used by God to introduce non-Christian friends to the grace of God.

Then I went into vocational ministry.

I must say that the first eight years of ministry were filled with exciting gospel adventures of leading students to Christ though the burgeoning ministry at Wildwood Church in Tallahassee.  These were exciting and fruitful times, as young people were coming to Christ in droves, becoming His disciples and growing in their desire to reach the world around them.  At the conclusion of that time I veered into church planting believing that it would give me more opportunities to share my faith.  Instead, I became more entrenched in church culture, spending all of my time with Christians.

As a result, my personal evangelism moved further onto the back burner of my life.

I have read books and attended conferences that proclaimed church planting as the most effective way to reach un-churched people.  The thinking is that Christians who are excited about their church family tend to share it with other people…sounds reasonable.  Problem is that if the leadership of the church isn’t living this way then the odds of the people living this way are infinitesimal.  In the end, if the church is started as a place for Christians with similar theology or similar life experiences or similar social circles, the church’s goal will be keeping those components as the center of its world.

I have served as a pastor at three churches.  I have made many mistakes and been a poor example of Christian living in some way at all three.  But now I can no longer make the same mistake of placing a low priority on reaching those who don’t know and experience the love of Jesus.  My holy discontent is that I can no longer sit quietly while I and other Christians avoid living missionally.  I’ve experienced the joy of being used to reach those who have lost interest in or never been introduced to church, and I can live no longer without that joy being central to my life and church community.  I desire to be part of leading a church that has individuals who are pursuing an understanding of grace that fuels their red hot passion to reach people who don’t know Jesus and tell them the world around them how much God has done for His children.

I can’t any longer excuse our collective missional lethargy.  I’ll start with me.  Then I’ll pray that God will bring others to be part of a mission to reach the un-churched people in greater Los Angeles.  Next week we’ll start talking about “Gathering.”  I trust that these suggestions will help you and I reconsider how we can position ourselves in this life to make a difference for Christ in culture.

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

We begin today to embark on a quest to reform the way we live our lives, becoming the sort of missional Christians who live with “gospel intentionality.”   That just means we live each day as if we were missionaries in Los Angeles and hope that over the course of each day we’ll seize the opportunities to share Jesus with others as our Heavenly Father makes these opportunities available.  Unfortunately, many Christians have found ways to justify not living their lives as the missionaries they are called to be right here in southern California.

This is particularly true in the tradition of which I’ve been a part.  “Reformed” Churches hold a very high view of God’s sovereignty over all things, including the means by which people come to Christ.  Yet, those churches often have little or no growth and very little challenge to become such an evangelistic force in culture.  They are, however, really good at critiquing what they believe to be ineffective ways of reaching culture.   In his address to the 30^th PCA General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama, the late Dr. D. James Kennedy answered critics of his seemingly outdated “Evangelism Explosion” outreach methodology by quipping, “I prefer my outdated mode of evangelism to your non-existent one.”

When I speak critically of the Reformed Church of which I’ve been a part for the entirety of my professional ministry and the last 22 years of my Christian life, understand that I do so as one criticizes their own family.  I can criticize and make fun of my brothers, but if you do it’s “go time!”  Those who fall into the theologically “Reformed” camp have historically been referred to as the frozen chosen.  As someone who was a Presbyterian minister for 15 years, I can affirm that many of the churches who claim that association lack an evangelistic zeal.  Not in theory, mind you.  Reformed people are all about theory.  Learning, knowledge, the cerebral; these are the things that are important to the lethargic Christian intellectual.

However, it’s after theory and before practice where we find out where our heart truly is.  Most intelligent believers will conclude that God has called them to reach others for Christ.  But instead of sharing Christ through gracious, intentional personal evangelism, they manage to discover ways to excuse their inactivity.  Most would even agree with the Apostle Paul’s teaching that evangelism must include a declaration of gospel truth.

Hear Paul’s words in Romans 10:8-17:

“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:  That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  But not all the Israelites accepted the good news.  For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

People will not come to faith unless they are told how to become a Christian.  God does this through Christians who open their mouths and share the gospel.  If you and I want to obey the Lord, make disciples and see them baptized, we’re going to have to open our mouths at some point.  And with all due respect to St. Francis of Assisi, who has been attributed with saying, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words”…  Phooey!  No one comes to faith by osmosis, a “subtle or gradual absorption.”  I understand that the intent of St. Francis’ words was to encourage a continuity between words and deeds, but many in the “God is sovereign/divine election camp” (of which I’m a part) have taken this to an entirely unacceptable place… missional lethargy.  No relationships with unbelievers and no words spoken at all.

So, this week I offer the first letter of Prism Church’s “GATHERING” acrostic, which collectively is designed to give us practical steps to take in order to be both active and effective as God’s people, proclaiming the truth not just in deed but also in word.

“G” stands for “Get out of your routine.” In addition to Einstein’s insight about problem solving (see above), the genius was known to say that the definition of “insanity” was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.   Yet this is precisely where many believers are regarding their missional effectiveness.  If you’ve lived a certain way for any length of time and not been part of the mission to lead someone, anyone, to Christ, it’s time to make a change to your routine.  I could offer practical suggestions at a fast and furious pace, but they all assume you buy the premise that your current routine won’t produce different results than in the past just because you want it to.

Step one is to recognize that something isn’t working.

I’d like to suggest a simple proposition that I’ve taught for years and have had little resistance to.  “People come to Christ through friends and family members.”  Through informal surveys of groups I’ve spoken to, I’ve asked those who came to Christ via a media outlet or a stranger evangelizing on the street to raise their hands.  Occasionally I’ll have more than a couple raise their hands, but usually only one or two.  Sometimes no one raises their hand.  Contrast that with the response given when I ask people to raise their hands if they were led to Christ by a family member or friend.  I’ve often had every person in the room raise their hands.

Principally, you are going to make a difference evangelistically if you have family members or friends who aren’t Christians.  The degree to which you place yourself in the lives of those who don’t know Jesus will proportionally increase the likelihood that you’ll be used by God to reach them for Christ.

I’d like to challenge you today to re-think your routine, especially the routine you’ve adopted that may leave little room for the development of genuine relationships with people who don’t know Christ.  Often times it isn’t a matter of not knowing any folks who aren’t Christians, it is a lack of pursuit of those relationships.  Put your head together with those closest to you and find ways to include un-churched people in your life.  These people will only come to know the Savior if they first have a friendship with you, a friendship that will in time lead to an opportunity for you to share the beautiful grace of the gospel.

Do you want to start living missionally?   Get out of your routine.

“You go no place by accident. Wherever you go, Christ is sending you. You are no place by mistake. Wherever you are, Christ has placed you. Jesus Christ has a job to do where you are, and He has chosen to do it in your body.”

– The late Dr. Richard Halverson, US Senate Chaplain

Anticipation is an amazing thing…it actually heightens the experience.  Whenever I get the chance to go to my son’s football games, I spend all day thinking about how much fun it will be to see him do what he loves to do most.  When he finally blitzes from his blind side linebacker position and gets to clock the quarterback, it’s more exciting because of the time I spend expecting it to happen.

These days, spending time with my daughter is a precious commodity.  Not because I don’t have time to hang out with her, but because she’s 13 years old now and isn’t as fond of being seen at the movies with her dad as she used to be.  When our agreed upon “monthly” date night (that’s all I get) finally arrives, I have spent a lot of time looking forward to being with her.

Anticipation is the key to living missionally, too.  If a person has ceased hoping that God will use them, if a believer no longer expects that the opportunity to be Christ’s ambassador to someone is likely during the day ahead of them, then the odds are small that they will seize the opportunity when it presents itself  because they’re not looking forward to it.  You can be sure that if my daughter unexpectedly asks, “Dad, want to go to Starbucks?”  I drop whatever I’m doing to go get a frappuccino because that is an opportunity for which I’ve been hoping.  Christian people who hope for the opportunity to share their faith, anticipate serving unbelievers and pray for the chance to initiate relationships with those who don’t know the love of God are much more likely to recognize those moments when they arrive.

Prism Church’s “GATHERING” acrostic is designed to give us practical steps to take in order to be both active and effective as God’s people, proclaiming the truth not just in deed but also in word.  Letter number two is “A,” which stands for “Ask God and Anticipate His Guidance.” The starting point for developing this perspective is a vibrant morning prayer  time, because it sets our mind in mission mode and places within us the anticipation that we are on a collision course with an opportunity to show Christ to someone.  Scripture declares that that there are more people who want to hear the gospel than there are people who are willing to be used by God to share it.

Jesus said in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossian Church, they were up against cultural resistance to the message of God’s grace in Christ.  While Paul had never been to Colosse (Epaphras, a disciple of Paul’s had planted the church), Paul had lots of experience standing up for Christ in hostile situations.  In fact, he wrote the letter to the Colossians as he was imprisoned for the first time in Rome.  While clapped in irons, he managed to give the church a notion of what will lead to opportunities to share Christ with others (underline my emphasis).

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.  Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  – Colossians 4:2-6

Do you hear all of the encouragement to pray and anticipate open doors for sharing Christ?  Where has this sense of wonder about being Christ’s spokesperson gone in your life?  Where has it gone in much of the American church?  Have you ever felt the thrill of knowing you were on a mission and that at any moment you might be called on to encourage someone with a kind word or perhaps even share the gospel with someone?  I can assure you that if you pray, and keep your eyes open, you’ll be amazed at the daily opportunities that will present themselves to you.  God wants to use you.  He needs workers in the harvest field.

Once while I was flying to a two-day meeting in Orlando, Florida I had a surprising encounter.  I often have the chance to share my faith when I travel because casual conversation on planes is relatively common.  Hence, I tend to pray and prepare for what God might bring my way.  As I boarded the second leg of my flight in Denver, Colorado, I couldn’t believe the opportunity in front of me; I was standing face to face with a famous Christian pastor and his spouse (I’ll spare the use of their names to be discreet).  What made this encounter important was that three years ago this couple was disgraced by the husband’s very public infidelity and admission of drug use.

As I realized that I’d be sitting directly behind this couple, I smiled at them and extended my hand to introduce myself and tell them I loved them.  This family had been humiliated nationally and been the object of ridicule both inside and outside of the Christian Church.  As I talked to them, I sensed the Holy Spirit speaking through me.  I assured them that I and others were standing with them, that they were in my prayers, and that it was an honor to meet them.  I could see in their faces the joy of a couple who were getting to see a friendly face and hear a kind word.  I was used by God to encourage someone I never believed I would ever be in a position to bless.  It was a simple hello, a gracious greeting.  And as we deplaned, he thanked me for my kind greeting.

I’m at a loss for words to communicate  the sense of joy I had being used by God to encourage this family.  I found myself praying for them during the flight.  I recognized that God had placed me on this particular airplane for a particular reason – I wasn’t there by accident – and I was overjoyed to be part of His mission in the world.  Can I invite you – no, beg you – to join me in the thrill of being used by God each day?  Would you respond to Scripture’s challenge to pray that God would open a door for the gospel to be spoken through you?  Jesus said it is better to give than receive (Acts 20:35).  He knows what He’s talking about, as He gave His life for us.

Do you want to be used by God to touch others?   Ask God and Anticipate His Guidance.

AUTHENTIC

–adjective

1.  not false or copied; genuine; real.

“Authenticity” has been quite the buzz word in Christian circles over the last few years.  In fact, “authenticity” is close to being overused the same way white Americans have destroyed the impact of the word “awesome.”  Awesome is defined as, “Inspiring awe or an overwhelming feeling of reverence or admiration.”  Admittedly, I have no fashion sense.  But can my daughter’s new Steve Madden shoes, attractive footwear though they may be, really cause an overwhelming feeling of reverence in Holly and her friends?  Because they think they’re “awesome!”  Then we wonder why kids aren’t moved by the song, “Our God is an awesome God.”  Our accessories are awesome!  God?  Eh.

I digress.

Authenticity means honesty.  The standard accusation for the church or Christians is that we’re hypocrites.  Usually it means that we don’t practice what we preach.  Sometimes a person is labeled a hypocrite because they call  one behavior  immoral as they simultaneously practice another that is equally as reprehensible.  I don’t consider this hypocrisy, because everyone is appalled by certain things yet surprisingly indifferent about others.  The most ardent defender of the environment can still be prone to cheat on their taxes.  One has nothing to do with the other.  However, that same environmental activist would be guilty of hypocrisy if they were secretly dumping chemicals into the ground behind their home.

It was amazingly hypocritical for the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart to preach so vehemently against the evils of pornography in the 1980’s.  Why?  Because while he publicly condemned 7-Eleven stores for retailing porn, he was secretly buying it up for his own use.  I’m confident that Jimmy Swaggart would still have the largest mens’ ministry on planet Earth if he’d have only been honest about his struggle with porn and made his own struggle the reason he wanted to stop the proliferation of it.

Instead, he kept his struggle hidden, it was exposed, and he was called a hypocrite.  Sadly, he’s still hanging on to the hope that no one will notice that his church is a mere shadow of its former self, having sold off portions of its formerly enormous campus, broadcasting the once ubiquitous television program in few places, and being taped on studio sets that scream, “We Loved the 80’s!”  It is a brutal, living testimony to the Scriptural reality that “Pride comes before disgrace.” (Proverbs 11:2)

However, hypocrisy can be avoided by authenticity or by speaking truthfully.  Do you want to begin making a difference as you share your life and the gospel with unbelievers?   This week’s letter from our Prism Church “Gathering” acrostic, is “T,” which stands for “Truthfully share your struggles with others.”

If pretending you’ve got your proverbial junk together isn’t yielding much evangelistic fruit, why not take a shot at truthfully communicating the myriad of difficulties you face as a person?  Whether it is family problems, struggles with addiction, or a painful emotional trial you’re undergoing, discussing these things won’t make you a hypocrite.  Our faith could be characterized by others as “inauthentic” not because we struggle with sin, but because we’ve been culturally conditioned by churches and pastors to hide it for fear that it would “ruin” our testimony for Jesus Christ.

But what is our testimony for Jesus Christ?  What are we trying to communicate to non-believers?  Is it, “stop sinning and God will start liking you?”  Is our gospel message, “Once you obey the Lord perfectly, then you can know the assurance that you’re going to heaven?”  Obviously, the answer to both of these questions is “no.”  However, many Christians hide their life struggles from their non-believing friends and co-workers (assuming they have any non-believing friends – see previous posts), out of fear that sharing their humanness makes them appear hypocritical to them.  In fact, I think hiding your sin and failure make others think that way.

I believe hiding your struggle actually negates your Christian testimony by contradicting what you’re saying about the gospel.  Accurately taught, Scripture says your motive for obedience to God’s word is a response to the complete and total forgiveness of our sins.  We should be telling people that Jesus died to pay for our sins, so that we wouldn’t have to be punished ourselves.  The gospel also proclaims that Christ’s righteousness is obtained by faith alone and through this faith in Him we stand “justified” or made right with God.  We should be teaching others that God has simultaneously satisfied His justice by punishing our sins and yet He’s made available His mercy by punishing an innocent in our place – Jesus, His only begotten Son.  This is what the Scripture refers to as an atoning sacrifice, a substitute who takes the brunt of the punishment so we don’t have to.

Read this from Romans 3:21-26 (underline emphasis mine):

^“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Our righteousness is not what makes us acceptable to God, Christ’s good works do.  It is the gospel that frees us to look into the abyss of our sin and struggle and still remain at peace with our loving, heavenly Father.  We are secure in Christ through our faith in his gift of forgiveness and the credit of His holiness to our account.  In response to this gift, the authentic believer begins a process whereby they grow in their love for God through an increasing trust and obedience to Him.  But we’ll not do this perfectly in this lifetime, in spite of what some Christians contend.  We will struggle and need to tell our Father we’re sorry for our missteps for the balance of our lives.  Yet, we are secure in Him because Jesus has justified us in the Father’s sight.

We are now, because of His grace, free to admit fault, addiction, pain, suffering, etc…  Keeping these things hidden from unbelievers doesn’t make them think you’ve got it all together.  It makes them think you’re full of crap because they know that no one has it all together.  Besides, your dishonesty is itself a sin.  Being humble and truthful (as appropriate) with others about your struggles and what has freed you to take an honest and humble look at them…well, this opens doors to talk about His wonderful grace.

However, this entire line of thinking is built on the presumption that you genuinely believe that you’re right with God because of Christ.  Do we really believe that He will love us no more in ten years than He does right now, regardless of how much or how little progress we make in our quest for holiness?

Do you want to start making unbelieving people stand up and take notice of the grace of God in you?   Then you’ll need to start communicating with your life that you are o.k. with God not because you have it all together but because Jesus had it all together and you got credit for His good works.  In other words, you gather others into the family by truthfully sharing your struggles with them.

“You go no place by accident. Wherever you go, Christ is sending you.  You are no place by mistake. Wherever you are, Christ has placed you.  Jesus Christ has a job to do where you are, and He has chosen to do it in your body.” – The late Dr. Richard Halverson, U.S. Senate Chaplain

Every Saturday morning since my son was a little boy, our family has made Saturdays about college football.  We set up extra televisions in our family room so we can watch multiple games at one time.  It’s one of my favorite things to do.  Several years ago it occurred to me that it would be fun to have people we knew and people whom we were wanting to get to know come over to watch with us.  So, every Saturday we cook out, order pizza, and here in Southern California we’ve had to adapt to time changes by providing pancakes (games start at 9:00 a.m. PST).   Each week we have a dozen or so folks come through our home to watch football and laugh at the pastor who yells at the television during West Virginia games.

The command from Jesus known as the “Great Commission” is an amazing thing and contains within it a clue as to how we are to be gospel sharing people in our world.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 18:18-20

In its original language, Matthew 28:19 could be translated, “As you are going, make disciples ….”  The imperative was “make disciples.” The “going” was assumed.^[1] As you and I are walking through life we are expected to be making disciples (which starts with being part of someone’s conversion process).  Whether we’re working or playing, we’re to make the most of every opportunity (Colossians 4:5).  It is in my playing where I’ve found amazing opportunities to make new friends with those who don’t know Christ’s love.

As was previously written in this training series, it is axiomatic that having friends who don’t know Christ is most likely the only way you’ll be  involved with introducing someone to the gospel.  No friends who don’t know Christ?  No friends of yours will ever come to know Christ.  It seems simple, but so few evangelicals live as if this is the case.  Most believers in the churches where I’ve served as a pastor have so thoroughly “Christianized” their worlds that their contact with unbelievers is casual, at best.

One practical step you can take is to make your hobbies one of the ways that you develop relationships with others.  If you work out so you can keep physically fit, why not choose to do this with someone instead of doing it alone or at the “Christian Life Center” of some church?  Do you play softball?   Instead of playing for your church, why not gather up some friends from work or go to the local tavern or city recreation department and play with people who don’t know the love of Christ?

The “H” in our Prism Church “Gathering” acrostic is “Hobbies…Make the Most of Them.”  There is so little time in our schedules that if we choose to make everything a church/Christian activity, we’ll never have time to spend with those who don’t know Jesus.  Is your hobby to go out to dinner (mine is)?  Why not periodically include a couple from work or the neighborhood in this activity?

Do you golf?  If you think about it, there probably are guys at your club or your office who would enjoy spending four hours with you.  That time golfing together (plus the requisite 19^th hole post-match breaking of bread) could not only foster a friendship, but provide a context to begin sharing your story with them.  I’m most comfortable sharing my faith in environments that are comfortable for me.  Whatever your hobby, my guess is that you’re very comfortable being yourself while doing it.  You have ready made conversation with others based on your shared interests, and you have a good bit of confidence in yourself in that context.

Some refer to the concept of connecting with others through hobbies as bridge building.  Bridges are the means by which movement takes place between believers and the world around them, so they don’t end up an island all to themselves.  Robert Lewis, author of The Church of Irresistible Influence, writes:

“The church, we now firmly believe, is to be in the bridge-building business, according to the design of Jesus Christ.  Over this bridge the church must travel and prove its reality to a disbelieving world.  Only then will the world reconsider its skepticism, hostility, and lostness.  Our world must experience the same incarnational influence as the first century experienced when Grace and Truth himself suddenly bridge that Great Chasm and became flesh.”

First, you must be first committed to obedience to Christ’s command to make disciples.  Secondly, you must take a challenging look at just how inclined you are to make excuses for your missional lethargy.  “I’m too busy.”  “I’m busy raising a family.”  “I’m exhausted when I get home from work.”  All these things are true, but these are not acceptable excuses for disobedience to other commands that we’d never consider ignoring.  “I’m too busy…to pray with my kids.”  “I’m busy raising a family…I don’t have time to worship on Sundays.”  “I’m exhausted when I get home from work…I have no intention of pursuing my spouse emotionally.”

So, how did making a difference in the lives of others through discipleship become such a low priority?  We’ll discuss that more next week when we get to the letter “E…Evangelism is not optional.”  For now, it is important to reevaluate how much time we really have.  I’m not suggesting that we don’t prioritize, nor am I suggesting that making disciples is everything we’re supposed to be doing.  But I can no longer live as if this isn’t supposed to be part of my life and a central part of my church.  If we’re not introducing Christ to those who don’t know him – in both word and deed – we’re disobeying God.

I’d like to suggest that hobbies are a way – for the lack of a better phrase – to kill two birds with one stone.  Do you go to the park with the kids?  Why not invite a neighbor to go with you and begin a friendship?  Do your kids play little league sports?  Why not be the team mom or dad and serve the other families and get to know them?  Who knows what would come of these relationships and the example you’d set for your children by living missionally?  I believe that we’ll see a harvest of souls in our generation only as a result of the intentional, grace-filled pursuit of others.  This is reflective of Christ’s pursuit of us, and is one way that we love others as He loved us.  Again, more of this next week.

“If there be any one point in which the Christian church ought to keep its fervor at a white heat, it is concerning missions. If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness, it is the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world.” – Charles Spurgeon

For this blog to make the kind of impact I’m hoping for, you’re going to need to put in a little extra effort.  I was so impacted and moved by a YouTube video made by Comedian and Illusionist, Penn Jillette, that it forms part of the basis for the Prism Church “GATHERING” acrostic.  This series is designed to encourage Christians to rethink how they can live  missionally in their day to day lives.  The starting point, obviously, is believing that God wants you to be missional and intentionally share your faith.  Enjoy this video, navigate back to www.chuckryor.com, and then I’ll share a few thoughts.

Penn Jillette Shares an Encounter with a Believer (link to video)

I am fascinated by Penn Jillette’s observation that the truly uncaring person is the one who believes that an eternity in hell awaits the unbeliever and makes no effort to share this information.  I am continuously amazed at how many churches have officers – Elders and Deacons – who have no experience in sharing their faith with unbelievers.  I’ve even had some who were seminary trained say that they didn’t know how to share their faith.  How is it possible that a congregation found it acceptable to make someone with no evangelistic experience – let alone zeal – a church leader?

But it’s not just the leaders who have taken themselves out of missional living. I’ve also watched curiously as so many Christians – many of whom claimed to have a high levels of theological understanding – seem unconcerned about reaching their neighbors.  Recently, two men who have joined in our church planting effort made an observation that is surprisingly astute, given that their exposure to Reformed Theology is recent.  They stated, “It’s odd that people who believe in the Sovereignty of God are so lazy about praying and sharing the gospel.”

I was happy to hear them say this, as sometimes I think it’s just me who has made that assessment.  Obviously, minds smarter than mine have addressed the lack of evangelistic zeal among those who contend that God is sovereign over the choice people make to believe in Christ (a doctrine known as “Sovereign Grace” or “Reformed Predestination”).  J.I. Packer’s classic work on the subject, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, written in 1961, addressed this lethargy when he wrote:

“But this is something that we must not forget.  Christ’s command means that we all should be devoting all our resources of ingenuity and enterprise to the task of making the gospel known in every possible way to every possible person.  Unconcern and inaction with regard to evangelism are always, therefore, inexcusable.”

I have to say, evangelistic laziness is selective lethargy by the traditionally “Reformed.”  Most believers from the Reformed tradition are “Christian Education” crazy.  Try suggesting to them that God is sovereign and will save your child even if you never train them in the faith or send them to Christian school…you’ll be ostracized as a possible heretic.  Most would consider it utter foolishness to turn your kids over to those who don’t know Jesus for the training of their souls.  As well, most traditional Calvinists put a high premium on the formal Christian education of children.

However, there are more Scriptures commanding us to influence our culture through evangelism than there are about child rearing and Christian education.  Some just “choose” to ignore them.  Ironic, huh?  The Calvinist who chooses not to be involved in evangelism?  All this to say, “E” is for “Evangelism isn’t Optional.”  To not share the good news with others was unthinkable to 1^st century Christians.  It was part and parcel of their experience, and the Apostle Paul even indicated that sharing Christ with others expanded your understanding of all that He’s given you.  In his letter to Philemon, Paul wrote:

“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.  I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.  Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.”- Philemon 1:4-7

In other words, it’s to our benefit to share our faith, both because we’ll experience a renewal of our zeal for His grace, but also because we’ll please our Lord through obedience to His commands.  Just like other areas of Scripture, disobedience to the command to share Christ with others will result in discipline for individual Christians and the Christian Church collectively.  Some think this discipline has already begun in North America, as “orthodox” churches are literally and figuratively dying because they’ve ceased to make intentional outreach a defining characteristic of their churches.

The intent of this “GATHERING” series is to lay the ground work for a new church.  Prism Church is called to be a church that encourages its people to make reaching others as high a priority as any other component of church life.  We gather, worship and serve.  All three are critical and all three are commanded.  But in our generation it simply isn’t effective to pass out literature at public gatherings or stand on a street corner and shout the gospel as people walk by.  The old adage has never been more true…people don’t care what you know until they know that you care.  Again, I reference J.I. Packer:

“Paul sought to save men; and because he sought to save them, he was not content merely to thrown truth at them; but he went out of his way to get alongside them, and to start thinking with them from where they were, and to speak to them in terms that they could understand, and above all to avoid everything that would prejudice them against the gospel.”

Robert Webber, author of The Younger Evangelicals, makes this observation about evangelism in our generation by our generation:

“Like their evangelical predecessors, the younger evangelicals are passionate about introducing people to Jesus.  But they are highly aware that conversion is not individualistic, and it is no panacea for life’s problems…the younger evangelicals are committed to a missional evangelism in their immediate neighborhood, an evangelism that is committed to making disciples and embodies the authentic reality of Christ in all of life.”

This is where Prism Church is going:  we will seek to gather those who don’t know Christ with as much vigor as we worship our Lord on Sundays and with as much zeal as we serve our community on His behalf.

“We could argue about what the most crucial concerns are facing Christians today. But unless we sort out a Christian view of busyness, we might not find time to debate them, let alone do anything.”

Tim Chester, The Busy Christian’s Guide to Busyness

I was visiting with a new friend of mine, a local pastor whose son plays football with mine. He was detailing to me his weekly schedule and it was brutal – he pastors two congregations in the Los Angeles area.  It reminded me of the schedule I kept in youth ministry at a large church in Florida.  I loved being that busy. I loved having activities four nights a week.  I was active and it felt like I was accomplishing things.

Our church had a great impact on the community in which we lived.  Our student ministry reached hundreds of students for Christ, many who came to know the Lord through our ministry.  There’s no doubt about it, programmed ministry does work.  Thousands wouldn’t attend mega-churches if these churches had nothing to offer.  But I discovered that a full church program schedule took up all of my free time.

I noticed that I had no longer spent time with and among those who didn’t know the love of Jesus.  And as we’ve previously discussed in this series, most everyone comes to know the Lord through friends and family.  Thus, if you don’t have any friends or family who don’t know Jesus it is unlikely that you’ll participate in the process of leading someone into a relationship with God.

Hence, in light of my experience and with a keen eye on the Scriptures, I will go out on a limb to say that if you want to be more missional in our culture, you may need to cut back on your church activity.  The “R” in our acrostic stands for “Restrict Your Church Involvement.” Why would such a declaration be a risk on my part?  Because when you’re starting a church it is easier to get a group of Christians together if you offer lots of programs and have lots of traditional methodology.  Like any other pastor, I want our church to reach lots of people and begin to function at a high level serving the community as quickly as possible.

However, I’m convinced that Pastors and Christian leaders are primarily responsible for so over-programming churches that they have effectively decommissioned Christians from their duty to reach out to those around them.  Practically speaking, Christians can’t be effective family members, friends, parents, and employees while simultaneously giving dozens of hours to church activity each week and then have enough time left over to interact with those who aren’t part of God’s family yet.

Prism Church is about “Gathering,” and by God’s grace we’ll have only three types of gatherings.  First, we’ll gather on Sundays for public worship and study.  If a person attended a study or prayer meeting for the hour before worship, attended the hour and a half worship service, and perhaps served in some capacity immediately following the service (college study, high school study, clean up, home group leaders study preparation, etc.), they would potentially spend a total of four hours at church on Sunday.

Secondly, if we can help it, we will have only one more weekly gathering.  This meeting will take place in mid-week community groups that will be held in homes near where you live.  At these midweek groups there will be a time of study and reflection, prayer, and eating a meal together.  Out of this community group will spring mission: planning service projects as the church in your community and encouraging one another with stories of how you are interacting with non-believers in your life.

The third and final type of gathering will be the responsibility of each Christian to gather “lost sheep” into the Father’s family.  We won’t have a church softball team (play with your office or in a city league – see “H”), a second weekly service for the really serious Christian (we’ll use technology to direct you into depth of study at home), and we won’t have a host of other “meetings” that you’ll feel guilty for not attending or, worse yet, guilty enough to attend.  Why go to this length to organize the church and reduce the number of church activities?  Because we want to give you enough time to apply the principles listed in this series and begin to live missionally in the world around you.

Our hope is that when it comes time to attend our Sunday worship or your midweek Community Group, you’ll be so eager to spend time with your church family that you’ll actually show up to those gatherings with a measure of zeal.  And who knows, maybe folks will show up on time?  After all, God does command us to gather for community worship and also tells us to not forsake the gathering together for mutual encouragement.

^“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:23-25

We are busy people, no doubt about it.  But if we’re too busy to obey the Lord we’re just too busy.  God has made it clear in Scriptures that we’re to love those who don’t know the Savior and we’re to love those who belong to the family of God.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” – Galatians 6:9-10

Do you want to work out in a gym?  If I have anything to say about it, we’ll never have a “Prism Church Christian Life Center”.  My challenge to you would be to join 24 Hour Fitness or a local wellness center and get to know some people from your community.  Do you think it would be a good idea to have a theater group at church?  So do I.  However, our encouragement will be to get a group of Christians together and join the local community theater group, and serve your fellow artists.  And as you develop genuine friendships with these people, you will increasingly find yourself in a position to initiate conversations that open the doors to sharing the gospel.

That’s what’s up next here at ChuckRyor.com:  ”I – Initiate Conversations that Model Grace.”

¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

There is one refrain I’ve heard from ministry minded people during my 20 years in Christian work:  “It seems we always have to track people down and convince them to participate.”  I’ve experienced the frustration of feeling as if my job was one constant sales pitch.  My response to staff I’ve led has been a sympathetic, “That’s the job.”  Why would I respond in such a way?  Because I believe that pursuing people models the grace of God.  He is constantly pursuing us, and we’re constantly wandering away from Him in thought and action.  It only makes sense that those who want to reflect His character to others would be asked to exhibit His perseverance of pursuit.

One of the Dale Carnegie secrets to success (see “How to Win Friends and Influence People”) is to remember the names of those you meet and use their name when you speak to them.  It’s a relatively simple principle built on the reality that we all like to hear our own name.  We also like to see our own picture.  Watch a slide show of pictures from a group trip that you went on and try not to care how many pictures of you were in it.

What’s my point?  Making a difference in someone’s life is simply a matter of taking the initiative to make them the center of attention.  I don’t mean insincerely.  If we want to impact others we have to commit ourselves to making them the object of our actions.  We need to ask ourselves, “How can I make this person sense the love of God?”  In my family we talk about love languages a lot.  These are the ways that people sense that you love them and it requires initiative and inquiry to discover this about the people in your life.  In my home it’s well known that to show them love, I’m to serve Carolyn (acts of service), spend time with Holly (quality time), and buy Nick stuff (giving gifts).  They all know they need to hug me (physical touch).  [see Gary Chapman's 'The Five Love Languages' for more on the subject]

Assuming you are developing or already have relationships with people who don’t know Christ, some Christians want to know how you transition to the next step of actually sharing Christ with them.  When I’m interacting with friends who aren’t believers, I do have a genuine concern that if I initiate a conversation about Jesus I’ll alienate them and shut down the conversation.  On the other hand, I want them to know about Christ.  So here’s what I do.

I initiate conversations that focus on the person I’m talking to.  Today’s letter in our “GATHERING” acronym is “I: Initiate Conversations that Model God’s Grace.”  I “feel out” the person through conversation to see if they are open to conversation about faith.  I start by asking lots of questions about their life, where they come from, what they think about politics, what they think about the world around them.  I ask them what they do in their spare time and what their dreams are.

By my asking questions about their lives, they feel honored and enjoy sharing their thoughts with me.  I’ve also discovered that over the course of a conversation, the person I’m talking to often will reciprocate and ask me about my life.  That’s when I can tactfully share that my faith in Christ is the table on which the puzzle of my life is put together.  That’s when I share how disenchanted I was with “religion” per se, hoping that there was something more to God than just doing the right thing and hoping God wouldn’t send me to hell.  That’s when I communicate that the real God sent Christ to earth to initiate a relationship with me.

Hopefully, by the time I get around to talking about the grace, kindness and selflessness of Jesus, they’ll have already seen this characteristic in me and in the conversations that we’ve had.  These conversations may have taken place over a period of time or all at once.  Obviously, you have to have enough social skill to recognize the body language and facial expressions of the person you’re talking to.  If they wince or roll their eyes, that’s a good indication that you don’t continue talking.  However, I’ve experienced that simply sharing my life story is far less threatening and usually produces a very casual follow up conversation.

When do I break into an “Official Gospel Presentation” such as a working through a booklet or drawing on a napkin (my preferred method of communication)?  That happens when someone wants clarity about what I mean by the difference between relationship with God and religion.  Sometimes it happens when someone needs to have a verse of Scripture to hang on to.  But I generally wait until the person expresses a desire to know more factual data about the faith.  Otherwise, I continue on a course of caring for them in deed and through conversation that makes them and their life my focus.

This is really an “anti-strategy” strategy.  What I mean is that I want my friends to come to know Christ’s love so they can rest in the presence of God as his child.  On the other hand, I recognize that people will often feel as if they are “projects” of the religious freak in their life once the conversation becomes forced or combative.  I’ve chosen to trust that the principles of respect, honor and kindness will mark any evangelistic conversation that I have.   Once I sense that a person feels dishonored or trapped in a conversation with me, I stop whatever I’m doing out of love for them.

By living this way, we’re ultimately trusting that God has to work in our loved ones’ hearts to make them open to the faith.  The Holy Spirit not only has to draw them, but illuminate their minds, bring conviction to their hearts about their sin and powerfully communicate confidence in His forgiveness to their soul.  We can’t do this.  That’s why it is so important to bathe our lives in prayer, to bring our concerns about our loved ones to the Father, and to NEVER forget who is responsible for rescuing the lost.  That’s where we’ll pick up next week when we look at the letter “N.”

“The important thing is not what you do, but what the Holy Spirit does through you.   You and I do not have the ability to bring anyone to Christ. Remember that success in witnessing is simply sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.”

The Late Dr. Bill Bright, Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ

Success is an elusive concept.  For those who’ve pursued excellence in their chosen field, there are typically achievable standards used to determine the relative success of a venture or person.  That’s what makes working in the Lord’s field, hoping to see a harvest of souls who come to know and experience the grace of God in Christ, is challenging for many.  Success in reaching out to people is defined more in terms of effort than results.  Problem is, success without measurable results is very “Un-American.”

Faithfulness to the call to become “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19) is God’s standard of success, not the rate of conversion growth in a church or the positive responses of individuals to a gospel presentation.  So what does “successful” evangelism look like?  Frankly, any evangelism is successful evangelism to me.  There is such a dearth of passion and practice about reaching those who don’t know Christ, no fruit is preferable to no seed planting.  It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”  In my opinion, the North American “Evangelism Well” is running dry, and there is a need to emphasize its worth among Reformed and Protestant Churches.

Prism Church is a mission-oriented church being planted in L.A.’s San Gabriel Valley for two reasons:  (1)  Non-orthodox “Christian” churches aren’t presenting the truth of the gospel, denying key doctrines that would offer comfort to people in the security of a genuine relationship with God.  And, (2)   Many theologically faithful churches and people have become insular and apathetic toward the lost, consumed with winning an American culture war that they’ve neither been order to fight nor promised to win.

Engaging the political realm to bring about cultural reform – whether it’s protesting gay marriage initiatives or opposing legalized gambling – may be the desire and vocation of some.  However, it is not to be mistaken for the proclamation of the gospel and the forwarding of God’s Kingdom (if you’d like to know if you’ve lost your balance on this point, just ask yourself when was the last time you shared your faith with someone).  Cultural reform via political pressure is a very different from the approach given by the Apostle Paul.  The most educated and theologically astute apostle of the New Testament, Paul encouraged his protégé Timothy and the church to live in such a way as to lead others to a saving knowledge of Christ’s love and grace.

¹I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— ²for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

- 1 Timothy 2:1-4

While at West Virginia University, our Campus Crusade group went to Daytona Beach each March to spend a week sharing Christ with tens of thousands of college students on their Spring Break.  My last year I got my first experience with how low a priority evangelism was to the American church.  We petitioned a prominent and affluent Christian group for funds to help pay for our travel.  I was told, “No.  We’ve diverted all of our resources to fighting the proposal to bring the lottery to our state.”  Decades later, the West Virginia lottery rolls on, while the opportunity to fund that season of our campus ministry is long gone.

So, why would I dare to risk the pain of touching the “third rail” of conservative American evangelicalism, its right to view America’s culture war as God’s agenda?  Because I’ve seen “Christian” politics serve both as an excuse and a distraction from actual cultural change that takes place through the sharing of the gospel and loving through selfless service.  It does this because political results are “tangible” and seemingly something we can do.

During 2008’s California Proposition 8 political fight, I winced during a conversation with a Christian man as he boasted of his willingness to put “Anti Gay Marriage” placards in his front yard, and then proceeded to tell me that he didn’t think the church needed to have active programs to reach the un-churched.  It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a Christian who was willing to stand “boldly” for their “conservatism” or “liberalism,” but when it came time to step out in faith and tell someone about the gospel of grace, their bravado evaporated.

All of this to say, genuine change in people’s lives (as opposed to getting our city, state or country to act morally) is an act of God’s grace and power.  It isn’t something we can force or for which we can vote.  We can’t even create the favorable conditions to make sharing the gospel a productive encounter, assuming we’re concerned about offending family or friends with our gospel talk.  We lack the natural courage to risk being socially ostracized for identifying with Christ.  We lack the ability to speak the right words at the right time, particularly under pressure.

Never are Jesus’ words more important to comprehend than when we desire to make a difference as missionaries to culture:

⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:4-5

As we draw our “GATHERING” series to a close, we’ve arrived at the letter “N” – NEVER forget that it’s God Who Changes Lives.  To that end we can do nothing but “remain” in Him, which simply means that we stay in a place of dependency.  In this state we can petition our Father for His blessing on our desire to help others to know Him.  We ask Him for the grace to comprehend His love for us.  We can ask Him for a love for Him that would propel us to obey the great commission to “make disciples” and to do as Jesus did – working to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

I understand the reluctance to turn people off to the gospel, so I’d encourage you and I to pray that God would open wide the doors to share our faith.  Let’s agree to pray that God would miraculously create a hunger for understanding in our friends and family who don’t know His love.  There are an abundance of Scriptural assurances that this is a prayer that God can, does, and desires to answer.  Do you want to be a missionary to the world around you?  You’ll need to depend on him and never forget that without Him you can do nothing.

³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” – Matthew 9:37-38

Recently I heard a brilliant comic tell a story about how she was being followed one night while walking the streets of Hollywood.  As she picked up her pace, the stalker behind her picked up his pace, too.  After the creep managed to frighten her sufficiently, he finally caught up to her and said, “I want to tell you about Jesus.”  To which she replied, “Oh, Lord.  Can’t you just assault me?”

It is with this type of reluctance that most Christians approach the subject of sharing their faith in Jesus with those who don’t know Him.  It’s clear from the Scriptures that faith comes about when people hear the message of Christ through the truth of God’s Word (Romans 10:17).  Hence, if you or I never are able to have conversations about Jesus with others, they’ll not come to faith.  But no one wants to be the odd person who awkwardly interjects Jesus into conversation, only to have people prefer physical harm to talking about God with us.

One refrain I hear from people is that they are able to develop friendships with co-workers, but that next step is always difficult.  This is where prayer comes in (see “N” from the previous post in the GATHERING Series).   While I agree that asking God to bring the opportunities to share your faith with your friends is a critical step in the process, no step is more important than getting in the game in the first place.

When the Lord started guiding me through the process of starting Prism Church, I was led to write out exactly the kind of church of which I wanted to be part – let alone lead.  Part of what I wrote out was the following:

“I want to lead a group of Christians in developing a church community that will effectively reach those who are not believers with the good news of Christ’s love.  I would like to see conversions take place in the hearts of both those who consider themselves religious and irreligious. I would like to personally get back into the evangelism game as I once enthusiastically was.”

I am praying that God would not only work evangelistically through Prism Church’s public worship services, but more importantly through the individual relationships that the people of our church cultivate with those who don’t know the love of Christ.  In fact, “membership” in Prism Church will require a commitment by the individual to live missionally, forming caring relationships with others and praying for the opportunity to share Christ with them.  Hence, our final letter in our “GATHERING” acronym is “G” – Get Started Today!

When I played basketball in high school there was this thrilling moment that happened whenever I had spent considerable time on the bench.  The coach would call down to me, “Ryor, check into the game.”  The excitement would rush through me, the adrenaline would course through my veins, I would rip off my sweat pants and sweat shirt.  However, before I could actually begin playing I had to check in at the scorer’s table and be motioned in by the referee.  If I never checked into the game, I would never get to play.

Sitting on the proverbial bench talking about reaching others isn’t the same thing as reaching others.  Jesus is calling you and me to get into the game.  The first step is to begin making friends with and caring for people who don’t know Christ.  Once you check into the game in this way, you then have the chance to make difference for the team.  However, until you take that first step, missional living is simply theoretical.  And the stakes are too high for Christian people to live in the ethereal.

Pastor, author and theologian Mark Dever writes in his commentary on the book of Joshua in the Old Testament:

“Spiritual warfare with eternal consequences is raging around the globe.  Christ commands his followers to fight our spiritual enemies by loving all people – all of whom are made in God’s image – through telling them the good news of Jesus Christ:  the promise of forgiveness for our sins and new life offered in him.  My Christian friend, are God’s promises and commands the central concerns of your life?  Do these things most capture your heart?  Or has something or someone else usurped Christ’s position and become your real commander, your true captain?  Christ’s great commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.  Christ great commission is to go and make disciples of all nations.” (The Message of the Old Testament – pg. 194)

A verse I reflect on often is 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” By committing ourselves to living as missionaries in our culture, we’re determining to give ourselves fully to the Lord’s work, because for all of eternity we’ll celebrate that we were part of God’s team reaching people.

One final thought as we wrap things up:  set reasonable goals for yourself.  It may surprise you that my intention is to make friends with as many people as possible this year, but I’m only praying for six opportunities to share my faith with friends.  That’s once every two months.  You may think that doesn’t seem like a lot of people.  But my sense is that we are all called individually to reach a few, not the masses.  Paradoxically, if we all reach a few, we’ll collectively reach the masses.  With this mentality, a church of 30 people who commit to sharing their faith with two people each, will reach 60 more people this year.  Compared to how many last year?  Sadly, in most churches that number is zero.  It’s an ethos that Prism Church will not only strive and pray for, but corporately repent about if it isn’t our cultural norm in ten years.

Prism Church is about “GATHERING.”   We gather to worship, we gather to serve, and we gather those in the culture around us as we live missionally for the glory and honor of Christ and the love of others.  Prism Church exists to shine the light of God’s grace and love to Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Valley and the world.  We go no place by accident. Wherever we go, Christ is sending us. We are no place by mistake. Wherever we are, Christ has placed us.  Jesus Christ has a job to do where we are, and He has chosen to do it in our body.

“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16