Finding a "Person of Peace"

[Randall Neighbour is the President of TOUCH Outreach Ministries. TOUCH’s latest release, Small Group Vital Signs by Michael Mack, contains excellent information about how a cell group can employ the principles found in this article as well as six other vital signs of healthy groups. Check out the free assessment tool by following the link above]

Finding “a person of peace” isn’t difficult, although many Christians I know do not have one unsaved friend. Even though they’re surrounded by unchurched people at their workplace and in their community, they choose to spend all their time with people like themselves . . . Christians already living in community. I find this incredibly sad, and not just for the people who want and need Christ in the world. I’m also sad for the Christian who hasn’t yet discovered the most exciting and fun part of being a follower of Christ! Here’s a few principles to pass along to friends who know Christ but don’t have a clue as to how to go about meeting a person of peace:

Principle #1: Leverage an interest or hobby to find persons of peace.

I enjoy a couple of hobbies, one of which is pen making. It’s a unique hobby that requires hours of patience with a half-dozen woodworking tools. Just like Jesus instructed the disciples in Luke 9, I drove to a guy’s house empty-handed every Saturday for over a year to learn how to take blocks of material and turn them into one-of-a-kind writing instruments. I had no money for shop equipment at the time, and just enough of a budget for fuel and the materials with which to make a pen each week.

Over the course of that year, my mentor and I enjoyed many hours together. I discovered that my pen-making mentor considered himself a “God-loving ex-Catholic” in dire need of fellowship and encouragement. I was introduced to three of his close friends, his son, his wife, and two business contacts. And I have prayed for and with each of these people at one time or another for financial, physical, or emotional breakthroughs.

Principle #2: Humbly ask persons of peace to serve you.

Western Christians quickly become cocooned after just a year or two after conversion. They’re living differently now, “going to church” each Sunday, and have a new set of friends that live with similar values. Truthfully, they don’t need the help of a person of peace because they get all their needs met within the Christian community. So breaking out of one’s comfy cocoon is important for success, but only to the extent that the believer asks the person of peace for help with something important.

In Luke 9, the disciples need food and shelter. My pen making lessons weren’t nearly as important in comparison. However, my new home office renovation was of critical importance to me. So, I asked my pen making mentor to drive 45 minutes from home for three weekends straight to help me build a closet into the room and work on my project and I asked his son, who owned a pickup truck, to come along and help me get the wood home from the lumber yard. And you know what he and his son said when they left that weekend, exhausted and covered in sawdust? “Thank you for asking me us help you. We really enjoyed it!”

To successfully find and engage a person of peace, you must share common ground with the person and remain humble enough to ask them to serve you. None of this is rocket science, but so few Christian’s with whom I connect understand it, so share this blog entry and get the word out.