Time To Take Out The Trash

I haven't posted in a while...good to be back!

I recently had a noteworthy conversation with one of our crew from Farmington. We were talking about reaching out to the people who don't get much attention and she described a conversation she had with a woman who is developmentally disabled, but living on her own. They were talking on the phone and Christine (my Farmington friend) asked the woman if anyone was visiting her. The woman's response was, "The Mormons show up sometimes. They want to tell me about God, but they won't take out the trash." In that moment, this woman described the problem with so much of what we call "outreach".

How often do we, as Christians, look at outreach as an event, or even a sport. We think of all the people we want to reach and we start playing a numbers game so we can keep score of how many times we share the gospel. Sometimes (maybe all the time), however, in order to be able to have the opportunity to share the good news about Jesus, we need to be willing to share the good news that we are willing to serve. Taking the time to get to know someone and learning how to serve them can make the difference between sharing/modeling Christ with someone and simply annoying them.

The end of the story is that Christine invited her new friend to lunch (who just so happens to like the $20 shrimp platter at Red Lobster) and was able to help her with some groceries and even tracked down a stroller for her Pomeranian! Good on ya, Chris, for practicing true religion and authentic outreach!