“I ask you, though, where is love going to be if there is no relationship?  Relationship is the track.  Love is what rolls over the track.  Love moves through a relationship.”

I highlighted those sentences this week while reading the revised version of “Concentric Circles of Concern” by W. Oscar Thompson, Jr.  His 1980 book is a classic on evangelism that has since been updated by Claude King and I read it again to gain more insight for leading our church in our OIKOS Evangelism strategy.

We all talk about loving lost people.  Thompson argues that the only way to truly show another person love is through a relationship with that person.  If we don’t have a relationship with someone, how can we show them love?  If our relationship with another person is ruptured, how can we show them love?  It’s just talk – and empty talk at that.

How many lost people do I know?  How many lost people do you know?

One thing that is for certain – we are not showing love to any lost person we don’t know.  If relationships are the track on which the train of love runs, how much traveling is our LOVE TRAIN doing?

Pastor Steve Hogg