My Mission Monday

Loving the Marginalized: A Call to Reach Out

by Lindsey Dugué


From B.C. to A.D., believers are called to reach out to everyone—including those on the outskirts of society.

Since the very beginning, society always had its black sheep. In biblical times, people were outcast because of their race (the Samaritans), their faith (brand new Christians from surrounding cultures), and their socioeconomic and/or health status (the poor and the lepers who sat at the temple gates, the blind men at the pool). A plethora of things could get someone sent from society with no one to speak for them.

Today in 2010, we do the very same things. In “the land of the free,” we still segregate our neighborhoods and schools. We struggle over immigration issues and whether or not a different faith or denomination should show up in the community. We don’t make solutions for many who are marginalized, only patches or band-aids to temporarily fix problems.

Why do we do this? It’s easier for many to think about our problems than those of someone else, especially someone on the other side of the globe, a typical “out of sight, out of mind” scenario. Perhaps we fear that if we involve ourselves in others’ lives in a comforting, helpful, or advocating way, we’ll receive the same maltreatment they get on a regular basis.

Romans 10:12–15 states that all are welcome into the family of God. “The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” It also [strongly] encourages believers to get out and tell everyone about Him. “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” What does this have to do with us?

For believers, it has everything to do with us! The gospel is inclusive in that whoever chooses to believe in Christ and confess Him as Lord can be saved (John 3:16,21), but it is also exclusive: those who do believe are not condemned, but those who choose not to believe are left in darkness (John 3:18,20).

In short, it’s our business to be sure that everyone has an opportunity to choose Christ by sharing the Word with others any chance we get.

Consider some outcasts scattered throughout the Bible. If God can change lives through these two and so many others, imagine what God could do through you!

*Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, a fact that didn’t go over well with his brothers, and yet God had an amazing plan that would bring reconciliation to his family (Gen. 37,39–47),

*In John 4, the woman that Jesus met at the well was there because she (a) was a Samaritan—Jews and Samaritans did not get along—and (b) had a bad reputation because she had been married five times and the man she was living with wasn’t her husband. Still, Jesus opened a lifeline for her to meet the One who could offer her living water and life in Christ—and she took it. Because of her testimony in the town, many came to believe in Jesus as Savior.

Take some time today to pray about ways you can minister to or serve people that are stuck in the margins of society. Taking a step out of your comfort zone may be the key to someone entering the family of God.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40).

Lindsey Dugué struggles with her comfort zone in Chicago, where she lives with her husband. You can keep up with her at thegreycity.blogspot.com.