“It doesn’t matter how good a fisherman you are, if you’re fishing where there isn’t any fish, you ain’t gonna catch anything.”
Serious fishermen spend time and money researching maps with information on topography and vegetation and utilize sophisticated electronic equipment to locate their objective. But the best equipment, the most tantalizing bait, and the most advance techniques will not yield a catch if there are no fish in the area. While there are techniques of baiting that can yield a small catch over time, the most effective and most efficient methods always requires the fisherman to go to the fish. And so it is with Kingdom fishing.
However, the method of most churches in North America can be summed up in three words – Come To Us. They provide excellent programs and ministries designed to engage and help people who happen to attend their church. They put on amazing weekly productions with quality music and free coffee. The problem is that this method is becoming increasingly ineffective in reaching our culture and particularly the younger generations.
And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. Luke 5:4–6 (ESV)
We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. It’s not a problem with the message or it’s relevancy. The problem is us toiling in our own strength and doing it our way. We could learn something from our wet water friends. Are we going to be fishermen or drowners of worms. Rather than expecting them to come to us maybe we would be more productive for the Kingdom taking the Church (that’s us) to them. NineSevenZero Church needs to be a church without walls, taking the Hope of the Gospel to our world.
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