The Importance of Outreach
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." – St. Teresa of Calcutta
One of the great joys I have in my new role at St. John’s in East Lansing is getting to meet new and returning students for the first time. Over the last week I have gotten to meet so many new people and hear about their heart for the Lord. In my conversations with the students one thing eventually gets brought up: how do we reach more people? How do we as members of Christ’s body invite each other into this great adventure and life with Christ? While there is no one size fits all approach Jesus did leave a plan for how this would happen after He had ascended into heaven.
In his last conversation with His apostles before the Ascension the apostles asked Jesus:
“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” - Acts 1:6
The Apostles came to Jesus to know if the Kingdom of Israel was to be restored now that He had revealed Himself to be God. However, Jesus had not coming preaching the Kingdom of Israel. Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of Heaven. He came preaching a Kingdom for all who would seek to worship Him. The New Kingdom, the New Covenant was for all men. So what was Jesus plan then for the expansion of the Kingdom.
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” – Acts 1:7-8
Jesus’ “outreach strategy” was very simple: His disciples and followers were to be His witness. Inevitable when the topic of how we are to reach more people comes up in the Church, it is the responsibility of the whole of the Church to reach out to the community. If there truly is a spiritual battle going on between God and the devil and eternal immortal souls are at stake then each believer and disciple must take it as a personal responsibility to live a life of holiness and to reach out to their neighbor.
For many of us this feels like a daunting task. “I am not trained. I don’t know the theology. We have priests or ministers for that.” If we just give the task to a small number than we will only reach a small number. If truly believe that it is important than we must put our effort and energy towards it. The quote from St. Teresa of Calcutta found at the beginning of the article emphasizes how even the small actions matter. The small ways in which we reach out to those people in our lives. We don’t have to be eloquent or well trained to reach out to people. We just need to make their feel like they are loved and that we desire heaven for them. This week my “outreach strategy” is handing out free coffee and lemonade. I just want to get to know our neighbors and show them that we love and appreciate them. So much more could be said on this, but for know just reach out.
