(This is part three of a four part series. Parts 1 & 2 are posted in the June Archives.)
Opportunity
When my wife and I were married, I did what every red-blooded American man should do: I registered at The Home Depot. While I was sure to include the big-ticket items – a table saw, lawnmower, etc - I also included several small tools that I knew my closest friends could afford. A friend of my parents, who had been a general contractor for thirty plus years, got a hold of the list and, in his own words, “took some liberties with my selections.” Instead of the inexpensive pack of screwdrivers I had on the list, he presented me with a vintage set of forged tools (which I still use on a regular basis), and instead of the light hammer I had on the list, he gave me a heavy framing hammer, forged from a single piece of steel. While this is a great tool – one I doubt I could even buy today – it sits idle in my tool box for one simple reason: I have never framed a house!
If I ever want to but my framing hammer to use, I will need to go out of my way to find a frame to build. If we want to pour out our hearts and use our tools for outreach, we need to either find or create opportunities to do so! From my experience in intentionally reaching out in our communities, there are two ways opportunities present themselves: they cross our paths as we go through the course of our everyday lives or we plan them in advance and intentionally prepare to be productive in specific areas. Furthermore, a key essential to fostering opportunities for outreach involves a deliberate step out of our comfortable church circles. (As I said, these are my observations from my life and experience, so there is not scripture attached to each of these points.)
1) As life brings it. Drawing from my hammer illustration, I can think of a few situations that I might need a framing hammer along the course of life. Living on the edge of tornado alley, the reality that a twister could tear through our neighborhood with little warning is ever present. If that should happen and I find myself with neighbors in need of shelter or need to clean up the wreckage left in the wake of the storm, I know I have a tool in my box that will be valuable.
The same is true with opportunities for outreach: live long enough and they will present themselves. Every new person we meet, every pot-luck dinner we attend and kids sporting event we watch presents a chance to interact with people who may have never been adequately exposed to the gospel. With the right tools in your toolbox, you will be prepared to take advantage of these opportunities as life brings them your way.
2) As you bring it into life. While I am a big fan of being prepared for what ever comes along, simply having a tool in the box does not make one a craftsman. While being prepared for opportunities when they arise is important, it is just as valuable to proactively create opportunities to engage the un-churched. This could be as simple as inviting several neighbors over for a cook-out or as organized as gathering with other believers to hand out free popsicles in a park on a hot summer day.
3) Stepping out of the Holy Huddle. While it is essential to a healthy Christian life to be grounded in fellowship with other believers, it is not at all realistic to expect to have an active evangelistic life if we limit our social, business and civic encounters to those within our spiritual circles. If the world is to know us as Christians by the love we share, we have to be in close enough proximity to them for it to rub off!
The proactive measures we take as believers to create opportunities for interaction with non-Christians are the first steps in moving simple relational evangelism to a more strategic endeavor. Maximizing our evangelistic energy comes when we couple those efforts with the appropriate knowledge of God’s word and sensitivity to God’s will.
Next Post: Tools
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