Reaching Out... But How?

Jesus calls us to make disciples. But what does that actually look like when we're simply getting on with everyday life?

Two policemen. Two encounters. Two very different experiences.

The first happened on a beautiful Sunday morning, nearly thirty years ago. A car was travelling along a road in Suffolk, having just entered a 30mph zone. The driver was chatting away with his passengers and hadn't noticed the change in speed limit.

Then came the flashing lights.

The driver pulled over, and an elderly policeman approached the window. Before the officer could say anything, the driver admitted his mistake. He'd been travelling too fast, he knew it, and he apologised.

The policeman listened and simply said, "In future, take care."

No fine. No lecture. Just a little understanding and compassion.

The second encounter was rather different.

A family was returning from North Wales when their young daughter announced, with increasing urgency, that she needed the toilet. They pulled into a village, and the father dashed into a newsagent to ask where the nearest public toilets were.

When he returned, a policeman was standing beside the car with his notebook.

The car had been left where parking wasn't permitted. Despite the explanation about the increasingly desperate little girl, the officer issued a £25 fine.

Both policemen had authority. Both had the right to enforce the law. Yet the way they exercised that authority left two very different impressions.

It's interesting how we remember these encounters, sometimes decades later.

And it raises a question about something Jesus said to His followers.

When Jesus commissioned His disciples to take His message into the world, He began by declaring:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." (Matthew 28:18)

Jesus has all authority. And He sends His followers into the world to represent Him.

But what should that actually look like?

An Unlikely Group of People

Before we get to what Jesus told His disciples to do, it's worth considering who He was speaking to.

Matthew tells us that the eleven disciples travelled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had instructed them to go.

Then comes a rather remarkable observation:

"When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted." (Matthew 28:17)

Some worshipped. Some doubted.

What a mixed bunch!

If you were launching a new organisation with ambitions to change the world, would these really be the people you'd choose?

You might want a team of confident communicators, experienced leaders and people who were absolutely convinced about what they were doing.

Instead, Jesus gathered a group of ordinary men, some of whom were still wrestling with doubts, and entrusted them with an extraordinary responsibility.

These were the people who would carry the good news of Jesus into the world.

And there's something wonderfully encouraging about that.

Because most of us don't feel particularly qualified to do anything extraordinary for God.

We know our weaknesses. We know the questions we struggle to answer. We know how easily we can become distracted, discouraged or uncertain.

Perhaps we look at other Christians and think they're much better suited to sharing their faith. They're more confident, more knowledgeable, more outgoing or simply better with people.

But Jesus didn't wait until His disciples had everything figured out.

He called them, and He sent them.

Throughout the Bible, we discover that God has a remarkable habit of using unlikely people. Moses was reluctant to speak. Gideon considered himself insignificant. Peter denied knowing Jesus.

Yet God worked through them.

God doesn't simply call people who are already equipped. He equips the people He calls.

Sometimes the biggest obstacle isn't our lack of ability, but our reluctance to respond.

We can find all sorts of reasons not to do something. We're too busy. We're not confident enough. Someone else would do it better. Perhaps we'll be ready next year.

But what if God is simply asking us to take the next step?

It might be a new responsibility, an unfamiliar opportunity or a conversation we've been avoiding.

And it might be much smaller than we imagine.

The Most Extraordinary Message in the World

Jesus' instruction to those unlikely disciples was wonderfully clear:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:19)

Go and make disciples.

It's a command that has shaped the Church for nearly two thousand years, and it's still central to what it means to follow Jesus today.

But there's a practical question we need to ask.

How?

How do we share the good news of Jesus with people who don't know Him, don't understand Christianity or perhaps have no interest in religion whatsoever?

Well, here's one suggestion.

For goodness' sake, don't bore them!

That might sound rather blunt, but think about it.

Christians believe that Jesus came into the world, died for our sins, rose from the dead and offers forgiveness, hope and eternal life.

If that's true, we're talking about the most extraordinary news imaginable.

Yet somehow, we can occasionally communicate it in ways that make people switch off.

Imagine attending a church service for the first time in years. Perhaps you're there for a christening, a wedding or because somebody invited you along.

You don't know much about the Bible. You're unfamiliar with the language Christians use. You might even feel slightly uncomfortable being there.

And then somebody stands up and speaks for twenty minutes, assuming you already understand everything they're talking about.

What an opportunity missed!

Jesus was remarkably good at communicating with people in ways they could understand.

He spoke to fishermen about fishing, farmers about seeds, and thirsty people about water.

He told stories about lost sheep, missing coins, family disagreements and unexpected generosity.

He connected eternal truths with everyday experiences.

And perhaps that's something we need to rediscover.

Sharing our faith isn't about delivering a rehearsed speech to everyone we meet. It's about taking a genuine interest in people, listening to their questions and finding natural opportunities to talk about what we believe.

The way we communicate matters.

But there's something else that matters just as much.

What Do People See When They Look at Us?

There's a story about an eleven-year-old Christian girl who reached the final of a spelling competition in America.

The competition was incredibly close. Eventually, the judges were uncertain whether she'd spelled one of the words correctly because her accent made two letters sound very similar.

They asked her to clarify which letter she'd used.

She could have given the answer that would secure her victory.

Instead, she admitted she'd made a mistake.

She knew that meant losing the competition, but she told the truth anyway.

The audience rose to their feet and applauded.

What made that moment so powerful?

It wasn't a speech about Christianity. It wasn't a carefully constructed explanation of the gospel.

It was the honesty and integrity of an eleven-year-old girl.

Her actions communicated something about her character that words alone might never have achieved.

And our lives can do exactly the same.

People notice things.

They notice when we're honest, particularly when dishonesty would be easier.

They notice when we treat others with respect, even when we're frustrated.

They notice when we're generous, patient, compassionate or willing to admit we've made a mistake.

Think about how we respond when we're tenth in the queue at Tesco and the checkout seems to be moving at a snail's pace.

Or when we're stuck behind somebody driving at eighteen miles an hour, and we're already late.

Or when someone at work is having a difficult day and we have the opportunity to offer a little encouragement.

These aren't dramatic moments.

But they are moments in which our faith can become visible.

Jesus never separated what He taught from how He lived.

His authority was accompanied by compassion. His words were backed up by His actions. He didn't simply tell people that God loved them; He demonstrated that love in the way He treated them.

And if we're representing Jesus, shouldn't people see something of His character in us?

The way we live can open doors for conversations that might otherwise never happen.

Of course, good behaviour alone doesn't explain the good news of Jesus. There comes a time when words matter too.

But our actions can give those words credibility.

The Unexpected Opportunities

Sometimes we imagine that sharing our faith requires a special event, a carefully planned conversation or a particularly bold personality.

But some of the most meaningful opportunities happen when we're simply getting on with life.

Imagine enjoying a day out in Felixstowe.

You've had a picnic on the seafront, walked along the promenade, perhaps enjoyed an ice cream, and you're heading back towards the car.

As you pass a bench, you notice somebody has left a mobile phone behind.

It's a rather nice phone, and clearly somebody will be missing it.

You pick it up, hoping to identify the owner, but it's locked.

What do you do?

You could take it to the nearest police station or hand it in somewhere. But first, you decide to pray.

"Lord, please help us find the person who owns this phone."

A minute or two later, it rings.

It's the owner, desperately trying to find her missing phone.

You arrange to meet, and a few minutes later a very relieved woman arrives to collect it.

There's gratitude, a warm exchange and even a hug.

And during that brief encounter, you explain that you're Christians, that you wanted to do the right thing, and that you'd prayed for help finding her.

Nothing dramatic.

No lengthy discussion about religion. No pressure. No attempt to turn a lost phone into an impromptu sermon.

Just a simple act of kindness and a natural opportunity to share something about faith.

But what might that encounter mean to the woman who lost her phone?

Perhaps very little. Perhaps she'll simply remember that some kind people helped her.

Or perhaps she'll think about the fact that somebody prayed and, almost immediately afterwards, her phone rang.

Perhaps it will raise questions. Perhaps it will become one small link in a much longer chain that eventually leads her towards Jesus.

We don't know.

And that's rather the point.

We rarely know how God might use the small things we do.

We might be one conversation, one act of kindness or one word of encouragement in somebody else's much bigger story.

The temptation is to dismiss these moments because they don't seem particularly significant.

But perhaps we should be paying more attention to them.

Are We Keeping in Step?

Paul writes in Galatians 5:25:

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

It's an interesting phrase.

Keep in step.

Not rushing ahead, determined to do everything our own way.

Not hanging back, making excuses when we sense God prompting us to act.

But walking with Him, attentive to His leading.

Sometimes we can become so focused on the things we think God ought to be asking us to do that we miss what He's actually placing in front of us.

We might imagine ourselves doing something impressive for God, travelling overseas or leading some enormous project.

But what if He's asking us to help somebody much closer to home?

What if the opportunity isn't on the other side of the world, but on the other side of the supermarket aisle?

Perhaps there's someone who needs encouragement. Someone who's lonely. Someone who needs practical help, or simply somebody willing to listen.

Jesus spoke about the significance of giving even a cup of cold water to someone in need (Matthew 10:42).

There's a wonderful simplicity to that.

Not every act of service needs to be complicated or impressive.

Sometimes a cup of water is exactly what's needed.

The challenge is learning to recognise those moments and being willing to respond.

And that brings us back to the unlikely group of disciples gathered on a mountain in Galilee.

We Don't Go Alone

Jesus gave those eleven men an enormous responsibility.

They were to go and make disciples of all nations, baptising people and teaching them to obey everything He had commanded.

It's difficult to imagine how overwhelming that must have sounded.

They were ordinary men, living in a relatively small corner of the Roman Empire, being told to take the message of Jesus into the entire world.

And some of them were still doubting!

But Jesus didn't finish with the command.

He finished with a promise.

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

Those words change everything.

Jesus wasn't sending His followers out to accomplish something in their own strength.

He was promising His continuing presence with them.

And that promise remains just as relevant today.

We don't need to have every answer. We don't need to be naturally confident or particularly impressive.

We need to be willing.

Willing to listen. Willing to show kindness. Willing to speak when an opportunity comes. Willing to take a small step of faith, even when we're unsure where it might lead.

And willing to trust that God can work through ordinary people doing ordinary things.

Because that's how the Church began.

With a group of imperfect disciples, some worshipping and some doubting, who were willing to go where Jesus sent them.

And nearly two thousand years later, the invitation remains.

What About This Week?

We all have a week ahead of us.

There will be things we've planned, places we need to go, people we expect to see and responsibilities that need our attention.

But there will also be things we haven't planned.

Unexpected conversations. Chance encounters. People who need help. Moments when we have the opportunity to demonstrate something of the love of Jesus.

We may not recognise their significance at the time.

We may never discover what difference they made.

But that doesn't mean they don't matter.

So perhaps the question for this week isn't, "How can I do something extraordinary for God?"

Perhaps it's simply:

"Lord, what opportunities are You going to place in front of me today, and will I be willing to respond?"

Because reaching out doesn't always begin with something dramatic.

Sometimes it begins with a smile at the checkout, an encouraging word, a cup of water or a lost mobile phone.

And who knows where God might take it from there?

After all, the One who sends us has promised to be with us.

Always.