By Mark A. Taylor
I”ve just finished reading the testimony of a minister who wanted to get better acquainted with the members of his community. So, with the help of his wife and four kids, he started a pizzeria, and three-and-a-half years later, he”s convinced he made the right choice.
“We knew more people in our small town after six months of making pizza, than we did in 10 years of pastoring the church,” he wrote in a comment to Scot McKnight”s review of Eats With Sinners at beliefnet.com.
The minister explains that his family now connects with more than 600 families per month. As a result he”s built relationships that have allowed him to pray with folks, serve on civic committees, get involved in local schools, and mediate family problems. His restaurant donates food to the hungry. He was named his community”s 2010 Citizen of the Year and has been asked to run for city council.
All this happened because he realized the traditional outreach approaches of his local church weren”t connecting with outsiders, and he decided to do something about it. But he didn”t quit traditional ministry in order to make pizza. He just decided to do both, and now his vocation and avocation together often keep him busy more than 80 hours per week.
“I have changed, and my family has changed, and even our congregation has changed,” he wrote. All because they have been “shoulder to shoulder with the folks in our community.”
This minister has been criticized by other preachers, and that”s not surprising. If you feel inclined to question his method, that”s OK. My purpose is neither to recommend nor to renounce his approach.
But I can”t help thinking about all the everyday church members who need not take a second job in order to get close to the community. They”re already rubbing shoulders with people in need where they work every day, in factories and office buildings and schools””and pizzerias. But too many Christians, whether vocational church workers or not, get close only to others also inside the church.
Eats With Sinners by Arron Chambers challenges us to a decision something like the pizza-baking preacher”s. What if we saw the superficial relationships we already have at work or PTA as a starting point for true friendship with folks who may not know Christ? What if we decided to follow the example of Jesus who regularly ate with sinners and in the process pointed them to God?
Our commitment might lead us to try something much simpler””or just as hard””as starting a pizzeria with a purpose.
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