After two or three long hours on the quest for the ultimate flea market find, Lisa was kind enough to say, "Honey, let's break for some lunch." Grateful for the reprieve, I accepted her offer and we made our way to the food area, which consisted of a group of rickety, wooden picnic tables strategically huddled around several food stands.The author goes on to talk about creativity as the solution, and it's certainly an interesting overview of how we can be more creative in a team as we prepare for Sundays. But of course for me the issue goes deeper than just what we do on a Sunday.
We bought a couple of chicken sandwiches at one of the restaurants and proceeded to one of the tables to eat. After a few minutes, Lisa looked over my shoulder and said, "Honey, check that out." As I turned, I noticed an employee of the restaurant carrying a tray of samples. Normally, a restaurant would hand out samples to potential customers. But this girl was weaving in and out of the picnic tables handing out samples to those of us who were already stuffing our faces with her restaurant's chicken sandwiches!
Lisa said, "Ed, that's hilarious. I mean, all she has to do is walk about fifteen paces, go out to all the hundreds of people who obviously haven't eaten yet and offer the food to them. Yet, she's content to feed the already fed."
And that's when it hit me like an all-pro NFL linebacker. I said, "Lisa, that's it! That is the local church in a nutshell."
You see, our problem is that we've been so content weaving in and out of the church aisles and handing out samples to the already fed that we have missed the countless opportunities to offer the food, the very bread of life, to a lost and dying world.
Yes I want our Sunday Celebrations to be the most effective event they can be, but our creativity needs to extend into the area of connecting with our community beyond the church too. But more of that another day.
You can read the whole article here.
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