Going after the 1

Have you ever wondered how to treat those that are not a part of the church? Or what about the ones that are a part of the church then leave?

Why is that we as Christians want to look down on those people? Why do we treat the ones that have left the church like that are horrible people. What if we stopped looking down at them, and started reaching out to them. I find it funny that we do this when we are at church, but we get outside into the world and we look down at people who are away from Christ. We refuse to talk to them, to reach out to them, to want to have anything to do with them. I sit at a coffee shop a couple nights a week and look around at the people there. Many times I want to just walk away and cry. My heart hurts for the lost. The conversations they are having hurt. I listen to them planning their nights at the bar and how trashed they are going to get, and my heart hurts. I want so badly for them to have the same hope that I have in Christ. What really bugs me though is how we treat those that leave the Church sometimes. Why is it that we treat them like we do the non believer? Have we forgotten what Jesus taught? Just in case you have, here it is.

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:3-7

When did we stop doing this? When did we start saying, “we need to stop talking to them?” Why is that we look at them thinking they should know better and we need to distance ourselves from them? I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to get to heaven and stand before God and hear him say, “There were people you let walk away that I wanted you to chase after.”

Do we not know that each and every person is important to God? I have been thinking a lot about the people in our own ministry lately that have stopped showing up. I don’t know their story, their problems, their heart, their hurt. What I do know is that they are important to God and that should make them important to me. Jesus gave us this parable about a shepherd leaving his flock to chase after the one that walked away. That one sheep was so important to the Sheppard that he would leave 99 behind to get the 1 back. Shouldn’t we think the same way for the people in our churches?

I do a lot of work in a ministry that has a lot of people come and go. There are many that come in our doors for a season and then seem to just disappear. I started to take a closer look into this recently and found something that shocked me. I found a person that was coming all the time, and then all the sudden was gone. I thought maybe they had gone to another church or something. After talking to some people though I found out the opposite. This person is still coming every Sunday; even serving in the church, but is not a part of a community of people in the same stage of life. As I started to seek out some answers as to why this person is not joining us, I found out some of things in their life that is pulling them away. My heart broke as I listened to the story. I wanted to cry my heart hurt so badly. I feel it is just as much our fault that this person is not joining us. There is a lot of hurt going on right now, and aside from a few friends we never truly got to know this person, never really connected. And not only that, but when they walked away, we should have gone after them. I know that some friends did, but that was expected. Shouldn’t we as a ministry gone after? I know that we have a lot of people like this, every church does. What I want to know though is this, how many people see this happen and just say oh well, they just weren’t where I thought they were? Or maybe they think, well they just didn’t want to be here. Or worse, they just don’t care. What would our churches look like if we went after that 1 that is walking off? Actually its not even about what the church would look like, what will heaven look like when we do this. At the end of the day I don’t care what church you go to, what ministry you plug into, what community you are a part of. What I care about is that you are plugged into Jesus Christ. I care that you know as a person we love you, no matter what. I care that people know we are here to walk through life with them, good and bad times. I care that these people know they don’t have to go it alone. There should NEVER be a situation that we as the church are not willing to walk through with someone. There should NEVER be a time that we don’t show each and every person that they are truly and deeply loved. I want everyone who reads this to know this; you have my commitment to walk through anything with you. You have my commitment to love you no matter what. There is nothing you could do or say that will change this. I also make a commitment before the world to say, I WILL LEAVE THE 99 TO CHASE AFTER THE 1. If you are one of the 1’s out there, just know, God loves you, and that’s enough for me to chase you no matter how far away you go. I know I will not be able to catch everyone, but I want to know that heaven is rejoicing because of the ones that are caught. I want to stand before God and be able to say I sought with all my heart the ones that were walking away. If God loves a person then that is enough for me to love that person too. Which I know, that means I have to love everyone, and I am ok with that. I want to live like Jesus did; I want to love like Jesus did. If we truly want to be the hands and feet of Christ then we must live like he did. We must want the same things he wanted. Will you join me in leaving the 99 and going after all the 1’s out there?