Reaching out

Harry was determined to love his new neighbors and so, at every opportunity, he chatted with the people in the cul-de-sac where he’d just moved. He and his wife took cookies around the neighborhood and he traded jokes with the kids on their bikes.

One Saturday morning, little Julie Anderson stopped by the garage where he was cleaning his garden tools. “Could you come to our house tomorrow morning for an Easter party? We’re going to do an Easter egg hunt?”

Harry gently refused. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Our family will be in church tomorrow morning.”

Julie was shocked. “Why would you go to church on Easter?”

Reaching out today takes a new language, a fresh conversation. Harry was able to explain the connection between church and Easter but a young child who didn’t know anything about Jesus and Easter took him back. We have to find new ways to talk to people who don't know the basics of churchianity.

Here’s a link from Christianity Today about Starbucks evangelism.

At Allelon, there’s a discussion about consumerism and the church.

As to the difference between evangelism and witness, see this post.

Note that I don’t necessarily endorse every idea in these articles, but think they are good springboards for further conversation about ideas for reaching out in our culture. Let the conversation begin!