Reaching The Lost

The church in America was once active in reaching the lost but has lost its determination. It finds many of the old ways are no longer effective. If it is to reach the lost, it must learn why it is no longer effective and find new ways to reach them. Small groups can be a big help in reaching unbelievers. The church also needs to focus on the community around it and its needs. The church was once actively engaged with the community but social forces have created barriers to reaching those who have no church background. 97 The church must understand those barriers and overcome them if it is to reach the lost. While God loves all people and desires that they be saved, the church often sets aside groups of people who they feel are beyond God’s love and they don’t want to associate with them, just as the Jews did not want to associate with the Samaritans. That is illustrated most in the divisions within the church itself and the refusal of many denominations who refuse to relate with other denominations and often treat them as worse than unbelievers, which gives unbelievers a poor view of the church. The church has begun to hide from the world and not associate with it but God wants us to go out into the world but not allow the world to corrupt it.