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Greetings in the Name of the Lord! From my desk to you, Praise the Lord!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about “third level” people.

In the parable of the wedding feast, which is a picture of the Kingdom of God, the owner tells the host to tell those that were invited that the banquet is ready. When the host contacted those that were invited, they all began to make excuses why that couldn’t or why they wouldn’t attend the banquet. In the scenario of “third level people” these are what I would call “level one” people.

When the owner was informed that those invited did not respond favorable, the owner sent the host out to the highways to invite others in: “level two people.” The host did as asked and some of them responded but there was still room for more. The owner then instructed the host to go into the streets and the alleys and make them come in. These are “third level people.”

God has been “speaking” to me about “third level people.” These are the people that are out of the mainstream of society. They dress and act a bit different; their interest may seem a bit exocentric. These are the people that are not readily welcomed in most churches and therefore they do not feel comfortable in most churches. For the most part, they – at least initially – do not have a lot to “give” the church.

A further thought that God has helped me see is that most churches go after level one and level two people. They are the ones that are culturally adjusted and have the resources to be a blessing to the church. Level three people are tolerated at best but mostly shunned by the church culture.

All that said, God has helped me recognize my oversight of level three people and our need to be intentional about reaching this people group. I believe that we will need to look at everything we do from how we do worship to how we dress to how we preach in order to reach out to level three people. There is no doubt that it will both stretch and challenge most everyone including me. But as all the other churches chase after level one and two people, let us be the church that follows the example of Christ and go after level three people.

Think about it -

Until next time,

Pastor Gary

Send your comments to: pastor@lwmky.org