‘Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell.’ 

I have recently been thinking about this quote by C.T. Studd, who was a missionary to China, India and Africa at the turn of the last century. 

If I’m honest with myself, my natural desire is to spend time with ‘people like me’ – people who think the same as me, who have the same values as me. To sit with friends from church with a cup of tea, talking about our shared faith is easy, it’s comfortable. Running a ‘rescue shop within a yard of hell’ is harder work. It takes conscious effort, it involves sacrifice. It requires a deep dependence on God. 

Yet, when I read the Bible I’m convinced that this is what Jesus asks his followers to do. Jesus left the comfort of heaven to ‘seek and save the lost’ (Luke 19:10) and he calls us to leave our comfort zones and cross borders and cultures to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). Sometimes he calls us to cross continents. Sometimes he calls us to cross the street, or the school playground or the office … to engage with those who are different to us. Wherever God calls us to be, there are sure to be many people who live without knowing the freedom and fullness of life that Jesus offers.  

Sometimes when I look around, I am overwhelmed by the number of people who do not know Jesus. I only have one life, how do I use the limited time that I have? Who do I spend time with? Who do I invest in? One prayer that I often pray is: ‘Lord, lead me to the people you want me to be involved with.’ And I have seen him answer those prayers many times – a neighbour, a mum from school, an international student ... Opportunities open up when we pray.  

But there is also a cost. The more time I spend with the lost, the less time I have to spend with the ‘people like me’ in my church community. And because of this, I can sometimes feel like a bit of an outsider at church. I often struggle with the choice between inviting a non-believing family to dinner or close Christian friends. But I know Jesus spent a lot of time with those from outside the religious community and that following him means doing likewise. (And I know that I will get to feast and fellowship with those friends from church in eternity, so little is lost by prioritising eating with non-believers while here on earth). 

Last year as a family we made a commitment to never let a week go by without eating with people from outside of our Christian community. Sometimes we invite people to our home, sometimes we meet friends for a picnic, sometimes we are blessed to be cooked for by our neighbours. But wherever we meet we are intentional about investing in and loving our non-believing friends and we have had some wonderful opportunities to share some of what we believe.  

Inviting people into our home to eat with us also provides an opportunity to pray for them. When we thank God for our food before we eat we also pray for our guests. (I sometimes wonder how people who rarely hear prayers will respond to the Christian tradition of praying before eating, but most often people respond with thanks.)  

The Navigators vision statement includes the words, ‘Ordinary people, in many walks of life … live as fruitful insiders among the lost … [They] intentionally proclaim and embody the good news of Jesus Christ … [and] the lost and unreached burn in their hearts.’ 

I pray that this would be true. I pray for myself and I pray for all in our wider Navigators movement that the lost would burn in our hearts. That we would not seek to live our lives in the confines and comfort of our Christian communities but would seek to share the love of Jesus and to shine his light in the dark places.