“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘“’Friends, haven’t you any fish?’”’
”No,” they answered.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.” (John 21:4-6)
Sometimes I wonder about how we “do church,” especially if we keep doing things “the ways we’ve always done them” and yet keep asking what more we could do to share God’s love with our community around us, while the reality is that most Christian churches are shrinking in congregational size and attendance.
We are tempted to keep trying to do what we did in the past, things that “worked back then,” but we increasingly find less and less success in getting to know these neighbors around us more, not hearing their needs, and not loving them more. They are nearby, on the streets and neighborhoods around our church, but are we reaching them? Maybe we just are casting our nets on the wrong side of the boat.
Where we are placed in the midst of a community all around us, is not the problem. If anything, THAT is our opportunity, our mission field. It might just be that we need to do things differently, shift our focus, “throw our nets on the right side of the boat,” if you will.
Love our neighbors in new ways, seeking new opportunities to connect with them, where they are, sometimes just on the other side of the boat. No extra effort, just doing something different, focusing our energy in a different direction.
