Outward

“Simply stated, what drove the decision was a focus on those who are not yet here.”

Those words brought me to a standstill in my reading. The book was “Breakout Churches” by Thom S. Rainer. Churches that were reaching people with the good news were congregations driven by an outward focus. They saw beyond the walls of the church building. They saw the harvest fields and were intentional about reaching the lost. Sadly, many churches (and Christians) today are not outwardly focused. Frankly, most “churches” are stagnate or in numerical decline. Many are merely “holding on” not reaching out. This is hard truth, but it is true nonetheless. We live in an increasingly godless culture. This should be plainly obvious to everyone with a biblical worldview. The church is losing ground in our society. Our influence is not just waning, to quite honest; the church is irrelevant for many today. Author, Reggie McNeal noted in his terrific book, "The Present Future", that Christians were once “in the world but not of the world” but now many are “of the world (worldly) but not in the world (withdrawn).” We have become like the world while simultaneously distancing ourselves from the same world. Didn’t someone say something about salt that loses its saltiness? I write this not to discourage you, but to call you to join me in resisting the inward trend so prevalent in the body of Christ.

“He (Jesus) told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’” Luke 10:2