Can Starbucks Teach the Church Anything? Part 2

One of the principles that Starbucks continues to express is they are active in the community. There is a social responsibility that they are committed to. Some of these concerns effect their "bottom line" but they are still committed to it.

What would happen in the "evangelical" church if we took the "social gospel" seriously? Most times we have left the "social gospel" for the "liberal" side of the church and have only looked at spiritual matters. Well, it is past time for us to get off our backsides and merge the two together. We serve people not to convert them - but because that is what Jesus did. St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words." Our actions will speak volumes to the not yet believers. Remember, words are cheap.

This past Sunday was my youngest daughters 4th birthday. We had lunch with the Godparents at a Mexican restaurant. After we cut the cake and everyone was eating it, my wife said "I think I need to ask the family sitting near us if they would like some cake". (They had several young children with them.) I told her to go for it. She did and they accepted and were very kind. When I took out some of the presents, the father of this family asked if we needed help. My wife thanked him but told him it was OK, we could get it because there was not that much. As we were loading up the kids, they came out and got into their SUV. It had a fish logo on it, only this said Darwin in the middle of it and had feet on the fish. We began to laugh at what God had done. You see, we had just come from our Sunday service and I still had my collared clerical shirt on. There was no mistake that this family encountered kindness by someone who called themselves a "Christ-follower."

We need to go "out of our way" to touch the lives of people with our simple acts of kindness. "Small things done with great kindness effect the world."