Finding Common Ground through Outreach

by: Brian Narcomey

Greetings. My name is Brian J. Narcomey. I am the Outreach Coordinator/Pastor at the Center of Hope. The responsibilities of my position include planning, coordinating, and implementing outreach programs and activities to engage the community. With that said, I will say, first and foremost, Jesus is Lord and all things are done in His name and for His glory.

His plan starts with bringing together the struggling into the light of who they are in Christ’s eyes. Recognizing their worth and value as my brother or sister in Christ, I engage them with my story of brokenness as we all are related. Afterall, Revelation 7:9 states that every nation, tribe, people, and language will stand before the Lamb.

I mention brokenness for the reason of the healing and transformation that has been taking place in my life since September 7th, 2001. That I, too, am related by my sinfulness and broken nature. Sharing our testimony of who we are in Christ, God our Heavenly Father, through the Holy Spirit, engages us all with the mystery of how we may think of ourselves as not worthy.

God thinks of us as holy and without fault (Ephesians 1:4). My Father God even now blessed me with scripture as I am preparing to officiate a sister’s funeral. The blessing in this is that at the passing of a loved one, we engage the family and members to witness and share the Gospel. Funerals are part of life. Yet, we do have to prepare, so it is a blessed and sad time to be with family at this event. Isaiah 55:11 says “I send my word out. It does what I desire it to do, for it will not come back void.”

Before knowing Christ, I was scattered. Yet, His thoughts towards me are precious (Psalms 139:17), He says not of bad but of good (Jeremiah 29:11). To all of us broken-hearted, struggling, and suffering children, words of adoration are hard to take, swallow, and sometimes comprehend. Even so, God’s thoughts towards us are precious.

So, I seek to find common ground with everyone. Jesus tells us when they are joyful, be joyful; when they are sad, be sad with them. The privilege comes with giving honor to those who are broken, and then God the Father gets the praise and glory for loving us in it.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:22 - 23, “When I am with those whose consciences bother them easily, I don’t act as though I know it all and don’t say they are foolish; the result is that they are willing to let me help them. Yes, whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him. 23 I do this to get the Gospel to them and also for the blessing I myself receive when I see them come to Christ” (TLB). Engaging the community from Christ’s perspective is in love, because when it is in love and truth expressed, there will be a genuine reception or rejection.

As soldiers in our King’s army, I believe, we have all been tested in many ways. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; “Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. 30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit, God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; He made us pure and holy, and He freed us from sin. 31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, ‘If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.’”

So, in closing, the main responsibility of my position is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and as broken, sinful being, I have become a child of God to love others as He loved me first.