To Outreach or Not To Outreach

There are a lot of people who want to outreach to their community but never actually do anything about it.   These good-intentioned people often become overwhelmed with a passion to help “someone, somewhere” but cannot come to terms with general work, family and even church distractions to find the time to “make a difference”  within the community itself.  Many end up doing nothing because they are waiting for some kind of burning bush experience that will definitively tell them the direction they are to go in.  They become so focussed on making a mistake in God’s calling they end up doing nothing at all.   Others hold back from doing anything because they want to be sure that the project or mission they choose is where they are the most needed and will also reap major fulfilment benefits.  After all, if we’re going to make the time in our lives to answer the call, we at least want to get something out of it.

When I was a little girl in kindergarten, back in the days when we walked home from school alone (the sixties), I experienced a beautiful illustration of what my opinion is, in all of this.
It was January (or it could have been December) there was a fresh snow fall and little puddles along the side of the road, slightly snow covered.  I had a stick in my hand and was gleefully throwing it and then running to pick it up, sort of a human fetch experience that only six year olds can truly appreciate.  Until (cue in foreboding music) I threw the stick onto what I thought was a puddle but actually turned out to be an unmarked water-filled hole, dug by construction workers at the side of the road.  Of course, when I went to retrieve my stick, I fell in.  And of course, I could not get out.  I was literally up to my neck in freezing cold, January water with no help in sight.  So, I cried and I cried and I cried.  One car stopped.  My crying stopped and I was suddenly filled with hope that I would be rescued after all.  But, even though the driver began to get out to help, something made her stop.  She took a look at her watch, turned back to the car, without me, and then took off.  After that, other drivers came and went.  Some looked down at me and others chose to ignore me.  We’d all like to think the neighbours came running.  Nope.  And that was back in the day when all the moms were still at home.  And then an angel from heaven (no not really but she might as well have been one) a fine, kind,sacrificial lady came running up from a house down the road (my next door neighbour actually) and not concerned in the least about how wet she was going to get, dragged me out of the water.  Not only that, she took me to her house, gave me some warm clothes to change into and a warm blanket to wrap myself in, some delicious hot chocolate that removed all my tears, and called my mother. 

I’m sure I dripped water all over her house and I’m sure I disturbed her nice afternoon.  But she saw a need and she got involved.  She didn’t pray about it for a month to make sure that it was her calling (like the first lady who drove off) but she let herself get wet, let herself get uncomfortable, adapted her schedule to meet the need, and did it anyway.  There was no benefit for her in the least.  All the benefits were mine.  First of all, I was one very grateful little girl who thought she might stay in that puddle FOREVER.  Secondly,  this one little act of kindness that I’m sure she’s long forgotten, is still remembered by me to this day.

Still wondering where to get involved?  Henry Blackaby (he wrote Experiencing God) came up with a concept so wonderful, that when I heard about it 15 years ago,  it changed my life forever.  This concept explains why I do what I do and live where I live. It’s actually so simple that when I heard it, I realized I had been tripping over it for years.  He suggested that we look around and see what needs there are in our midst (neighbourhoods, churches, workplaces)that are not being met and then answer them.  He also suggested that we carefully observe what God is already doing through others to meet those needs and get involved in that.   Your church is filling up with missionaries?  God is calling the church into greater missions focus.  There’s a neighbourhood outreach down the street?  God wants YOU to get involved.  There’s a little girl standing neck deep in a giant puddle?   YOU pull her out.

Yes, it is that simple.

…And ONE for all