The Parable of the Unchurched

Once, there was a pastor. He was concerned about the "unchurched" and decided that to learn how to minister to them and bring them into the fold, he would try to see things from their point of view. So he asked his congregation for permission to take some time off.

On Sunday mornings, he followed the unchurched. He went hiking with them, joined their picnics, and spent time with their families. He listened to the things they talked about and how they seemed to feel.

He did not find debauchery, sin and miserable, unhappy people.  He found God.

He found God in the woods as they hiked. In the laughter at the picnic. In the time with the family. He found God in all that he experienced. In the birds as they sang, the cattle as they grazed, in the clouds as they drifted by. And he found God in the eyes of the unchurched.

When the time came for him to return to his congregation, he found he didn't want to. For he now found the Holy One easiest to hear and see in the creation HE made, not in the buildings of man. Inside, somehow the voice was muffled. Instead of thinking of going TO church, he now realized that was always standing on holy ground. Morality wasn't about what he did on Sunday, but about what he did every moment of every day.

 He realized that he did not need to minister to the unchurched for the unchurched had ministered to him.

Blessed Be.

*Based on a True Story