One person at a time...

Today as I drove around Baltimore, my heart was burdened for the people here. I kept asking myself and asking God out of a sense of desperation, “How do we reach Baltimore with the good news that Jesus died for them and loves them and is offering forgiveness, joy, and meaning for life now and for eternity?”

The answer is… one person at a time.

This past Tuesday we had a New Year’s Day party. We had 34 adults and 21 kids come by. It was great! They all showed up and left sometime between 2 and 6pm. Many of those who came were from our church and some were a mix of people I know in Baltimore. But we also had some of our neighbors and a friend of Miriam’s from school come with her family. It was great to see a mingling of Christians and those who don’t yet know Christ all in my house watching football and eating food. I was able to have some spiritual conversations with my friends and neighbors but mostly we just enjoyed each other, talked about life, and football. Through Christmas cookies, ham, and noisy kids upstairs I think some gospel seeds were planted.

Last week I found out that one of the fathers I know from Miriam and Samuel’s school… his fiancé had just given birth to a boy. I congratulated him and then brought him a meal. It is hard taking care of dinner when a newborn is around so it is a common practice in many churches that to bring dinners over for the family so they don’t have to deal with cooking. Many new parents who are unchurched don’t have anyone helping out. So it is an easy thing to do to show someone the love of Jesus through a frozen lasagna and bag of salad. He was blessed and very appreciative that we thought of them and even called me later to thank me again. Another seed was planted.

I know we can hold great events that will draw a crowd (like Jesus did) and this is also important when we think about planting churches and reaching people for Christ. However, I think what we need most is an army of Christians living out their lives missionally week in and week out sharing their lives and sharing their homes with those who don’t yet know Jesus. This is how we reach this city… one person at a time.