Less than six inches outside the front step of The Rock Ministries’ main building, a
hypodermic needle, its needle tip missing and filled with blood, laid on the concrete. Just down
the block from one of The Rock’s facilities, a store with a vibrant yellow sign displayed in all
capitals: “XXX VIDEO STORE.” In the five minute walk from the ministry back to the Cairn
van, we saw two different men collapsed on the ground or against a fence. Several of my
classmates talked to one another and virtually ignored them, joking and laughing, already having
moved on from this moment and this time intended for growth and internal struggle.
In this experience in Kensington, I found a prime example of how we should be living the
Christian life. The Rock offers an excellent demonstration of exactly how to be in the world, and
yet not of it. The depravity and brokenness of man creeps quite literally up to their doorstep, and
in stark contrast the interior is filled with smiles, compassion, and the love and non-complacency
of Christ. Their volunteers exude a humble servitude that many Christians in this day and age
would do well to emulate. Today was a sharp reminder that as believers, we must reach out and
pull in those that need the Word of God. Too often we simply turn away or even look on with
disgust or fear towards those who desperately need to be told or reminded of their Creator’s
ultimate love. 2 Corinthians 5:14-20 says:

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for
all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for
themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we
regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the
flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The
old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ
reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was
reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us
the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his
appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (ESV,
emphasis added).

Complacency is arguably the greatest sin of this generation of Christians. How dare we
call ourselves members of the Lord’s army when we refuse to step outside of our cushy, cozy
lives to affect change? The American Christian needs to internalize the fact that it doesn’t matter
if we are ignoring the people who need Christ actively or passively, intentionally or
unintentionally. We are failing to do that which we have been called to do. Our complacency is
the problem, and we need to realize that these are the people who need the Good News and need
compassion the most. I did a small survey here on Cairn University campus, asking a few
questions about how comfortable Cairn students are with evangelizing. An overwhelming 95.6%
of responders answered that they sometimes or rarely bring up Christ with their non-believing
friends. 8.7% of responders stated that they are uncomfortable sharing what Christ is doing in
their lives with friends, and 43.5% said that they were comfortable, but only with their Christian
friends on this subject. This non-urgency with which the comfortable Christian leads life baffles
me. All of us are guilty of it at one point or another in our lives, but when I sit here and consider
it, I am overwhelmed with how little we do to spread the Word of God. In my lifetime, I have
seen firsthand exactly how dangerous this type of nonchalance towards evangelism can be.
Sometimes, all you have is one chance to share the Gospel with someone. Sometimes, that one
chance can be the catalyst God uses to change that person’s life.

It is so comfortable and commonplace to disregard the suffering of those around us. The
ease with which we return our mentality to school, work, and our own selves after witnessing
situations and events like the ones I saw in Kensington is abhorrent. There is no moment of silent
respect, and I find this nauseating. Why do we, in our fallenness, find it so easy to walk past an
unresponsive man on the sidewalk of Kensington, get back in our car, and start talking about our
own problems without a single second of disbelief or recognition for the hurt we saw in front of
us? We must take the time to reevaluate our priorities. Why bother calling ourselves Christians if
we are unwilling to speak up about Christ?