2x2

Sending Out

Jesus gathered his people to himself and organized them in groups of 2 and then sent them out. As I came to visit, what I heard was that the church wanted someone to evangelize into the community. That is what I love to do more than most things that I will do.

Jesus evangelized in the world as he went he healed and he spoke to people. What is often interesting about the places that Jesus went, was that he often times went where his disciples did not want to go. We see this in the woman at the well. (ESV)

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” Jesus goes to this area, most-likely because he knew that there were people here who needed something from him. But notice that Jesus does not immediately offer something to her, but rather asks her for something. This is a lesson from Jesus about how to go and meet.

I had a troubling situation a few years ago while I watched my congregation do ministry. The church ladies were trying to help a Hispanic man and his family because he had cancer and was very sick. The ladies took food to his family and offered other things to help them in his illness. This is a normal way of reaching out with love. A few weeks into the venture, one of my congregants came to me very disturbed and said that the man was very upset with the church and had publicly spoke out against what they were doing for him.

We don’t always put a lot of thought into what we say or what we do when we go to evangelize. Perhaps that is why many people ask their pastor to go for them.