“My view of ministry in the church has been simply to preach the Gospel, serve the Kingdom of God, lift up Jesus and see the world come to him. But in the process of building our church and striving to be a light in the community, I realized one day that we had been conducting ministry primarily inside our four walls. Sure, we ventured out from time to time for service projects such as food drives for the homeless, clothing collections for the needy, blankets for the elderly, and backpacks for school children – which are all worthy causes. But while I continued to pastor and minister in a typical fashion, I had come to see that the world was changing around us. The tide was turning. I started to feel more and more every day as though I was being deluged by a cultural tsunami…as though we, the church, were losing the battle of the church influencing the world for Christ vs. the world influencing the church.” Dudley Rutherford, Unleashed.
2 thoughts on “Public Christianity QOTD”
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I agree with this. We need to be less "inside" the church and more outside the walls and reaching out to others. Inside to be strengthened is a good thing, to have fellowship and encouragement. But to not spend all our time snuggling up to all it represents to us and not be willing to expand our spiritual gifts and growth. Guess I should shut up now and stop preaching…
Preaching to the choir! Actually I've been personally challenged lately to get outside of these four walls and start engaging the community. It's a process and we don't know where God will lead, but I'll keep you all updated.