Crossing the Uncomfortable Space
by Janelle Williams
I remember being 7 years old, walking around a neighborhood near my church handing out flyers and inviting families to Vacation Bible School. My parents had agreed to be church planters at what was once my mom’s childhood church, but was struggling to keep its doors open. This church was a good 20 minutes away from our home and located in a more affluent, less country setting. I did not know these folks, I would not see these kids at school, but there we were, flyers in hand, getting up the gumption to knock on each door.
At age 18, only a few months into my freshman year at college, I clearly heard God call me overseas. My plan was to finish out my freshman year and be serving in some far-flung place by the following fall. Instead, I found myself working for the next year on 2nd shift in a garment factory with men and women of entirely different backgrounds and values from my own. It was…uncomfortable. At times I felt like Jonah. I hadn’t chosen this mission field and I did not desire the task of alerting people to the danger they were in and pointing them to their Savior. Sometimes I was like Peter, bold but more than a little off kilter.
Another year onward found me in Indonesia, finally in the role of “missionary” to the most densely populated and Muslim place on the planet. You know what I discovered? Moving through the uncomfortable space towards a person who I knew was different from myself had not become “easy”. As recently as a month ago, while consistently praying for our church’s outreach efforts, I was handed an opportunity to serve someone from our neighborhood and that day it wasn’t discomfort, but inconvenience which impeded me. Once given the chance to meet someone’s need and connect with them, my internal response was, “I’m too busy for this right now.” Too busy with what? Getting ready for my own vacation. God, forgive me!
Though it is neither easy nor convenient, God desires us to cross that uncomfortable space into the lives of people who don’t necessarily look like us, talk like us, have the same education level, etc. Since 1952 our church has been located right here on the corner of East North and North East streets. Within a 2-block radius of our church are hundreds of people we do not know. What we do know is that they, like us, are in need of a Savior. We are the missionaries to this neighborhood, tasked with establishing real relationships and telling our neighbors about Christ. Our Neighborhood Garden ministry allows us consistently to come in contact with the same neighbors for roughly 10-12 weeks each summer. Events the outreach team has been planning are meant to be initial meeting points to begin relationships with people with whom we might otherwise never cross paths. On June 24th at 6:45pm a group of CAC family members will be canvassing the neighborhood ahead of the Fun Night at the Garden on July 1st. Canvassing simply means that we will be walking around the neighborhood, knocking on a few doors to hand out flyers, talking to folks who might be sitting outside or playing with their children, and listening for Holy Spirit to guide our conversations.
Ask God for the desire to reach others for Him even when it’s not comfortable and step out in faith with members of your church family to put the Great Commission into action.
