08/31/2008 - by Chuck Monan, Preaching Minister

There is plenty of work to be done down here.  To struggle each day to walk the paths of righteousness is no pushover, and struggle we must because just as we are fed like sheep in green pastures, we must also feed his sheep, which are each other.  Jesus, our shepherd, tells us that.  We must help bear each other’s burdens.  We must pray for each other.  We must nourish each other, weep with each other, rejoice with each other.  Sometimes we must just learn to let each other alone.  In short, we must love each other.  We must never forget that.
~ Frederick Buechner

When we ask the question why carrying out this divine mandate is such a struggle, many of us have to admit that our detached, disconnected, too-often solitary lives are to blame.  We fail to invest ourselves in one another’s lives and fail to practice hospitality as God’s Word calls us to do (Rom. 12:13).
We even fail in this quest after an environment has been created that lends itself to natural, easy, enjoyable connections.  Specifically, PV’s own Breakin’ Bread Café.

Those of us who visit the café have been blessed by meeting people who come to us from all over Little Rock.  Friendships have been struck and relationships deepened by the brotherly act of sharing a meal together, or “breaking bread” in biblical parlance (Acts 2:46). It is a practice we need to commit to in our daily lives.

It is a cutting edge ministry for a church to have such a place inside its walls.  But the Café, along with the Family Life Center, is part of PV’s outreach to our community and city.  The hundreds of visitors who come into our building on a weekly basis are looking for help:  spiritually, physically, socially.  At a time when some of our missionaries struggle to meet     people, we have hundreds walking into the doors of our church.

Do we care enough to get to know them?

We hear cries in the church for a return to the days when we were more evangelistic.  It is ironic that we have all kinds of people in our midst who need our friendship, our teaching, and our care and yet we are too busy to reach out to them.

What would happen if every one of us made spending time in the Café or FLC a priority?  What would happen if we invited a friend, neighbor or co-worker to the Café for lunch and showed them around the building, all the while telling them what a special place PV is and how much the Lord is doing among us?  If we are willing to go across the ocean to save a soul, why wouldn’t we be willing to go across the street - or the church building?
 
Jack Van Ens writes, “People join churches more because they want warmth than lightSermons may get them into church the first time, but what keeps them coming are friendships that foster inward awareness and support.”

Amen.