Following are interesting statistics in light of Barna’s research showing…… “service to the local community”…. the most important attribute the unchurched look for when considering a church they may attend:
$633,314…..Contributions given by the clergy to 2008 presidential candidates.
42.5%….US congregations that spend less than 10% of their budgets for services to their community.
12.2%….Congregations that spend more than 30% for those services.
So where does the parable of the good Samaritan fit into our thinking about local ministry and the unchurched?
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:36-37
You often quote Al Hirsh, and one of the things that really stuck me in The Forgotten Ways was an insight that we are perhaps at our most effective when we labor alongside those who are already trying to solve real problems in our communities. Why do we always insist on making a church branded, or worse our church branded “ministry” when a half dozen like it already exist? Why not join the local free clinic full force and serve alongside real people who are trying to meet a need? Maybe you’ll serve alongside a gay man inspired by someone he lost to AIDS. Maybe he will change you, and maybe you can be a neighbor to him, but he won’t come to your church branded clinic — he’s already been rejected by the church. You made a great point earlier about African missionaries knowing that people won’t listen until you feed them. Maybe we need to get better at doing that in our own midst, but if all we offer is our brand of kool-aid, they won’t drink it. Unchurched people still love, still care, and many of them are trying to meet the needs we know God can meet, and they are doing it on their own. What if we came alongside and helped them? Maybe by loving them and serving alongside them, they would recognize that we’re Jesus’ (John 13:34-35). As you have said before, it isn’t Jesus they don’t like, it’s us.