not out yet

for those of you who were awaiting some news as to what happened in meeting our neighbors this weekend, let me share

we didn't go yet...for a couple of reasons

1) our pre-printed materials to hand out with who we were and our offers to serve/pray were not ready. we hope to have them ready for this weekend
2) i picked up grumbling on the strategy as well as uneasiness among the willing. grumbling, i'm used to, uneasyness among our willing means i need to step back and help show some what, how, and why's. (as they say, the difference between a leader and a martyr is 10 steps)

so we talked in a small group after our prayer meeting about the information and offers we'll be doing -- how very little serving is likely to take place on Sunday nights, but that we'll want to pace ourselves so that we don't overcommit.

overcommitting may be as bad or worse than going out at all. by 'overcommitting,' i mean that we hand out 50-100 of these nice offers to help folks at their homes, and we get 15-20 people to respond for help. (now i know that's not likely, in fact 2 is more likely to be an overwhelming number--but for argument sake, i'll continue). i would then take these 15-20 families' needs back to our congregation and call for working on a weeknight or Saturday morning. the result of the passionate plea to help our neighbors and show the love of Christ -- 3 willing servants. that would be overcommitting -- 3 people killing themselves trying to reach everyone. such poor follow through would put off most requests 6 months or more. the result of such a delay would be lack of confidence in the ones that advertised they cared. not a good way to start to reach the neighborhood

so, we'll start slowly, maybe introducing ourselves to 10 families and seeing what type of response and follow-up we can generate. as we touch lives with the love of Christ, excitement will build from every testimony and participant. such excitement can produce a greater willingness to bless and meet our neighbors.

we'll be out there soon, but getting out won't be the biggest issue. no, that's follow-up. we want to be sure to follow-up quickly and joyfully

"what we want is a joyful church, and we're not going to convince this world without it. we need to get this long-faced 'Christianity' off the earth" ~ D.L. Moody