257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105
(262) 763-3021
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We have purchased land on Highways A & W and are planning to build soon! Drive by and take a look at our future home!
“We ask for peanuts when we should be asking for continents and
claiming the world for Christ.” Dawson Trotman
March 28th, 2010
I left our Senior High program with a heavy heart a few Wednesdays ago. That night I was teaching about the exclusiveness of the Gospel, that being good or moral was not enough to get someone into Heaven. One of the teens really got it and with anguish in his voice, he asked, “What about my friends who don’t believe yet believe in another religion?” The reality of Hell and the lostness of his friends was weighing heavy on him, as it should.
I often think that some of us have been saved too long. Somehow the freshness of our faith begins to develop into a well-worn furrow of spiritual habits, and before we know it, we’re in a spiritual rut. We come to church, attend a Bible study, maybe get involved in some facet of ministry – and we forget what it’s all about – that people really are lost, and apart from coming to Christ, are doomed to a Christless eternity in Hell.
It’s so easy to become preoccupied and miss the real mission. Most of us become focused on all the wrong things. First, it’s so easy to become wrapped up in our families and children and work – that we forget that there is a lost world out there beyond our four walls, right outside our door. Or, we become so passionate about politics or sports or our hobby...or whatever, that we forget that none of those things will have real significance in eternity. Even in the church, too often, just like those Roman soldiers, we are playing games at the foot of the Cross. We get all passionate and worked up about styles of worship or programs or even just what we consider to be hassles of ministry...and even building a building. Our prayer requests are frequently sad indicators of our lack of spiritual sensitivity. The typical prayer request by most Christians is either for safety as we travel or for someone’s health. It’s either the travelogue or the hospital report. If there is ever a prayer request for a lost person, it’s usually for either a lost spouse or a lost child.
Our worlds are too small. Our focus too limited. Our passion misdirected. And yet so many people around us are searching for hope, for answers...if we’ll just open our eyes and see them. If we’ll just open our ears and listen to them.
Just recently, this was powerfully brought home to me. I was in an office supply store in West Allis picking up a few items. Things were a little slow and Jane was in another part of the store, so as I checked out, I engaged the clerk in a conversation. I don’t even remember how it came about but something about marriage come up. I noticed she didn’t have a wedding ring, so I said something to the affect, “I see that you are not married.” She shared that she was divorced and that it had been a very painful one. I encouraged her to seek out a Divorce Care program, that it had been very affective and helpful in our church. I knew that Elmbrook Church had one. Though of another faith, she was familiar with Elmbrook and assured me that, as she was so hurting, she would check it out. I have yet, when I’ve demonstrated compassion to someone, had them get irritated with me or blow me off.
Did you know that according to a recent Barna survey, 73% of people who don't attend church were never invited? We’re in the Easter Season. Each of us are going to have opportunities to reach out to those around us. In fact, we are entering the “holiday season” (Good Friday, Easter, Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, 4th of July, Labor Day). What an opportunity for us to touch lives!
If someone is single, recently divorced or widowed or even not originally from the area, holidays have a way of accenting loneliness. We have folk all around us who are starving for friendship and relationships. As we reach out to them, we then have the opportunity to introduce them to the One who can fulfill that longing they have in their souls, that God-shaped hole in the soul.
It can be something as simple as taking cookies to a new neighbor or inviting the new person at work to lunch. It could be asking their kids to come along as you bring your own children to one of our midweek programs. It might be sharing that we have a Divorce Care program with a friend who is going through a divorce. It might be inviting them out for golf or volleyball or softball. It might even be dropping a card to someone who just lost a loved one or found out that they or someone close to them has cancer. It could be taking a meal to someone who just got out of the hospital. It could be watching a neighbor’s children or getting their mail if they’re out of town. Or, even caring for their pet when they are on vacation (even if it’s a cat ☺).
It boils down to this. Lost individuals are so much more open to what we have to share if they first know how much we care. The opportunities are endless. We have to be looking for them though. We have to be listening for the hurting souls. You and I are called to be like Christ. Jesus always saw the needs around Him, do we? Everyone we meet is either going to Heaven or Hell. I’m looking forward someday to go to Heaven and I want to take as many people with me as I possibly can!!! Let’s invest in people and make a difference in their lives and eternity!