The Church has never had a relevance problem. We’ve had a proximity problem.
From the beginning, God’s strategy has been shockingly consistent: He comes near. Before there were choirs, sanctuaries, or church brands, God was walking through a garden calling, “Where are you?” He heard the groans of enslaved people and said, “I have come down to deliver them.” And then He went all the way in. The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.
God doesn’t shout salvation from a distance. He brings it within reach.
Jesus didn’t build a religious call center. He walked into people’s actual lives. He went to the places others avoided. He stopped for the ones everyone hurried past. He moved toward pain, not away from it. Over and over, the pattern is the same: Jesus didn’t just model a ministry of messages; He modeled a ministry of movement.
And if we want to carry His heart, we have to follow His feet.
In my upcoming book, The Road We Must Travel Again (releasing early 2026), I refer to this as living where we are. It’s the Good Samaritan principle in real time: he didn’t love from a safe distance; he “came to where he was.” The road Jesus is inviting us back onto is not theoretical. It’s literal. It’s the sidewalk. The coffee shop. The bleachers. The hospital waiting room. The foster system. The neighborhood driveway. The messy “ditch” moments where life is happening, and people are bleeding.
And this is not an optional lane of ministry. This is our primary purpose.
The Leader Sets the Temperature
My pastor for almost thirty years, Frank Damazio, drilled a line into my soul:
“So goes the leader, so goes the church.”
That sentence has a way of making you sit up straighter. It definitely did that for me.
Years ago, I prayed what I thought was a very spiritual prayer: “Lord, give me Your heart for the lost.” I expected warmth. I expected goose bumps. Instead, I sensed the Holy Spirit whisper something that stopped me cold: You couldn’t carry My burden for the lost.
Then came the question: “Put your hand over your heart. What does that represent?”
“Life,” I answered.
I felt the Lord whisper back to me, “To Me, it represents death. Every time your heart beats, someone steps into eternity without Me.” Truth be told, over 118 a minute, 170,00 per day, and over 60 million people will slip into eternity this year alone, most unsaved! 1
That moment didn’t shame me. It woke me up. Because if I’m going to ask God to ignite my church, it has to start with my lifestyle, and not my stage presence.
So wherever we’ve lived, I’ve done something straightforward: I sketch a basic map of our neighborhood. I walk. I learn names. I listen to stories. I pray over homes. I ask the Holy Spirit, “Show me who’s in the ditch.” Ultimately, I look for ways to connect and establish relationships.
That’s how real friendships begin. And that’s where real breakthroughs tend to happen.
Proximity precedes breakthrough.
You can’t influence people you refuse to be near.
Your First Congregation Is Under Your Roof
If you want a church that lives on the road, start with the people who share your Wi-Fi in your own home.
Joshua didn’t offer a cute wall decal. He declared a family mission statement: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” And somewhere along the way, many Christian homes became cozy sanctuaries from the world instead of living outposts for the mission.
Susan and I decided early: our home wouldn’t just be a retreat; it would be a landing strip. Over the years, people have lived under our roof in hard seasons. Foster kids came for a chapter. Two developmentally disabled boys came… and stayed for a lifetime. They’re our sons now.
Here’s what I’ve learned: If your family never sees the mess, they’ll never understand the mission.
The Samaritan didn’t outsource compassion. He put the wounded man in his own ride, paid his expenses, and promised to return. That kind of embodied love forms our kids far more than our best advice ever will.
Why People Don’t Share—and What Leaders Must Do About It
Let’s be honest: evangelism sounds inspiring at a conference and terrifying in a Starbucks line. In my book, The Road We Must Travel Again, I unpack several real-world blockers:
- RLI Syndrome (Redeemed, Lifted, Isolated) — John Perkins describes how believers can lose meaningful contact with anyone far from God over a period of time.
2 - Fear — rejection, awkwardness, saying it wrong.
- “I don’t know what to say.”
- Procrastination — “tomorrow” becomes never.
- Bad theology — “That’s not my gift,” “That’s the pastor’s job,” “God will do it without me.”
Our job isn’t to shame people for fear. It’s to name the fear, then equip them to move through it with courage and grace.
The Most Fruitful Field Is Right Outside Your Door
Here’s a stat every pastor and leader should sit with when over 10,000 people were asked what brought them to Christ and their church, around 79% said it was a friend or relative. 3
Not a billboard. Not a viral moment. Not a crusade. A relationship.
In other words, your most fruitful mission field is your RFNC: relatives, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.
You don’t need a stage. You need a table.
A Simple Framework That Works in Real Life: B.L.E.S.S.
If you want your church to shift from “we should reach people” to actually reaching people, give them handles they can carry on Monday.
One of the most practical tools I’ve seen is the B.L.E.S.S. framework in the best-selling book, BLESS: 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change Your World. (Dave and Jon Ferguson). Five everyday practices anyone can build into ordinary life.4 It is a must-read! These five principles embedded in the life of every believer will transform their ability to reach people.
- Begin with prayer
- Listen
- Eat together
- Serve
- Story — share yours and God’s
No gimmicks. No pressure. Just presence long enough for love to make sense.
From Programs to Pathways of Mission
If we’re not careful, ministries become beautifully organized cul-de-sacs: strong fellowship, zero on-ramps for people far from God.
What if:
- Every small group left an empty chair as a reminder to pray for and invite someone new.
- Youth ministry wasn’t just about keeping Christian teenagers safe but equipping them to reach the most broken teens on their campus.
- Every team, from Kids to Worship to Tech, owned a piece of the mission to seek and save the lost, not just serve the already convinced?
As I often share with leaders to stretch the philosophy of ministry, “We’re not just raising godly kids. We’re raising godly kids who reach ungodly kids… and then teach them to multiply.”
That’s how consumers become carriers.
If Your Church Disappeared, Would Your City Notice?
I’ve watched citywide collaboration work up close, churches choosing to love the same schools, foster kids, and neighborhoods together.
Here’s the lesson: the Great Commission requires Great Collaboration.
So ask the question that recalibrates everything:
If your church disappeared tomorrow, would your city even notice?
If the honest answer is “maybe not,” don’t spiral. Pivot.
Start with one school. One shelter. One neighborhood. Let the pain points of your city become the prayer points of your people… and then the assignment of your teams.
The Road Back Is the Road Out
There’s one line in the Good Samaritan story I can’t shake:
“But a Samaritan… came to where he was.”
That’s the heartbeat of Jesus. That’s the road I’m calling us back to in The Road We Must Travel Again—a road where leaders, families, small groups, and entire churches decide the ditch is not a distraction from ministry.
The ditch is the ministry.
So don’t just admire the Samaritan. Embody him.
Start with your heart.
Then your home.
Then your RFNC.
Then your city.
And may someone, someday, tell their story and say, “I was bleeding in my own ditch… and they came to where I was.”
If you want to be part of the early release community for The Road We Must Travel Again (coming early 2026), the pre-release list is open. Go sign up now at marcestes.com.
Endnotes & Sources
- https://ourworldindata.org/births-and-deaths
- John M. Perkins, Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development (Baker Books, 1993).
- Institute for American Church Growth survey of over 10,000 church attenders, summarized in multiple secondary sources reporting roughly 79% came because of a friend or relative’s invitation.
- Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson, B.L.E.S.S.: 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World (Salem Books, 2021).