"For Jesus it was not 'Poor people and other outcasts, find yourself a church'; it was 'Church people, find yourself the poor and outcasts.'"
See the difference? The impetus is not on the church to market in such an attractive fashion that people are drawn to our church. The call is to love Jesus and to love others in such an attractive fashion that Jesus through us (Jesus lifted up) draws people to Himself.
Jesus is the only one qualified to invite others to "Come"; we are called to "Go".
The implication in understanding this distinction is enormous in scope and in potential:
"The New Testament teaches that the church is the body of Christ. Jesus teaches that the victims of hatred and oppression are Jesus. 'Whatever you did for one of the the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' So if the church refuses to identify with the poor and forgotten, it is turning its back on Jesus. It cannot become one body with Christ.
Sadly, the church is too busy connecting people with the memory of Jesus, the Jesus who 'once was' or the promise of the returning of a returning Christ who 'is to come.' Meanwhile, the church is neglecting the Jesus who 'is right now,' the Jesus who lives all around us in the lives of the poor, the sick, the disabled, the persecuted, and the dying" (Leonard Sweet, Out of the Question, p.137).
While "Field of Dreams" makes for wonderful theater, it also makes for terribly ineffective ministry. The choice for churches, for ministries, for disciples is this: Will you continue to beg others to come or will you ratchet up your discipleship and go - even to the strange and estranged? Will you go with a towel and a basin of water to serve? Will you go with a cup of cold water to quench the spiritually thirsty? Will you visit the right-now Jesus who sits in a prison cell? Will you go?
