[continued from part 2]

To continue my rant. Here’s the other side that needs to be viewed. The hearts of the youth today are broken. They feel the sting of abandonment and need the rescuing arms of a Savior and Lord. They are are lost, but not unreachable. They want to be rescued. We just have to go there and offer them Christ. But for some reason, more often than not, no ones goes searching for them.

Sure we open the doors of the church, expecting them to be drawn to us, but it is us that must go to them. The church, the building and programs, offer then nothing. If you have a drowning man, you don’t tell him to swim to the boat so he can get a life preserver.

We must go to where they are otherwise we run the danger of pitting ourselves against the will of God. Jesus when out to reach the unreached, he got dirty and on their level. The Great Commission doesn’t state “I send you out to the edges of the building to open the doors and the lost will find their way in and hopefully fit into a program we have, accept the Lord, start wearing sweaters, serving in the nursery and tithing faithfully.” That’s not what we are commanded to do. That’s not the state of the church that Christ is returning for. We are called to go out, boldly proclaim the Gospel of Christ.

“All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Mt. 28:18-20 ASV).

We’ve forgotten the whole concept of “GO” and now expect them to “COME” to us. It just doesn’t work that way. I will never work.