Jesus did not choose a priest and a Levite by accident. These were not background extras in the parable. They were spiritual heavyweights. The priest stood at the center of temple worship. The Levite helped guard and guide the rhythms of the holy place. If anyone should have known what God’s heart looked like up close, it was them. And yet, they walked by. That is not just a detail in Luke 10. It is a diagnostic. Because the scandal is not that they failed to see the man. The scandal is that they saw him and still decided distance was wisdom. When religion walks by, it leaves people where they are and calls it discernment. In The Road We Must Travel Again (releasing early 2026), I call this “other side spirituality.” It is the kind of faith that stays close enough to observe pain but far enough to avoid inconvenience. We can describe the ditch in detail. We just do not climb into it.
THE SUBTLE DRIFT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Somewhere along the way, the American church became very good at building rooms and very hesitant to crossroads. The last time we broadly lived on the same side of the road as the wounded, there were barefoot preachers baptizing hippies in the Pacific. The Jesus People Movement blew open the walls between church and street. They did not wait for perfect systems, perfect budgets, or perfect permission. They had one strategy: go where the people are and talk about Jesus. Then the late seventies and eighties brought something else: the Church Growth Movement. Structure. Clarity. Strategy. Better sound. Better signage. Visitor parking. Thoughtful preaching aimed at the spiritually curious. God used it. But slowly, a subtle shift happened. Evangelism moved from incarnational to invitational. From “go and tell” to “come and see.” From messy sidewalks to polished stages. For a while, the Gospel of Come worked. Churches exploded. Easter-filled arenas. People met Jesus in those rooms, and they still do. Let’s honor that. But now we are facing a collision: • The church is not going as it used to • The world is not coming as it used to • And yet spiritual hunger is still everywhere Even with declining affiliation, 83 percent of Americans say they believe in God or a universal spirit, and 86 percent say humans have a soul or spirit. In other words, the room is still full of spiritual questions even when the pews are not.1 So why does it feel like we are talking past our neighbors? Because the distance between the priest, the Levite, and the wounded man is the same distance, many churches have drifted from the people right outside their doors.
HOW WE ENDED UP ON THE OTHER SIDE
Let me name a few mindsets that keep leaders living at a safe distance. If any of these sting a little, welcome to the club. They sting me, too.
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The domesticated Gospel mindset We agree with the Great Commission but live like it is a great suggestion. We nod when Jesus says, “Go into all the world,” then schedule nearly all ministry inside one building and one time slot. Our problem is not orthodoxy. It is orthopraxy. Agreeing with Jesus is not the same as obeying Jesus.
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The “we have always done it this way” reflex Tradition is not the villain. Untouchable tradition is. Jesus looked religious leaders in the eye and said, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions” (Mark 7:8-9). That is not a gentle suggestion. That is an alarm. A question every leadership team needs right now: What are we unwilling to change, even if it is clearly not reaching the people in our city anymore?
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The inside only syndrome Caring for the people in the room is biblical. Essential. Non-negotiable. But Jesus’ banquet story does not end with the invited guests (Luke 14:21-23). When the table was not full, the master did not say, “Improve the ambiance.” He said, “Go quickly into the streets and alleys… go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in.” Healthy churches do both: care deeply for the family and keep space, energy, and strategy for the ones still outside.
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The Christian bubble problem The longer we follow Jesus, the easier it is to accidentally eliminate meaningful relationships with people far from God. Not because we are cruel. Because we are comfortable. If everyone at your dinner table already loves Jesus, it might be time to add a chair.
- The “that is not my gift” escape hatch “I’m not an evangelist” sounds humble, but it often becomes permission to stay quiet. Yes, some are gifted evangelists (Ephesians 4:11-12). But Peter still told every believer, “Always be prepared to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15). You do not need a microphone to be faithful. You need willingness.
HERE IS THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH
Part of why we drift to the other side is that we quietly distorted the biblical profile of leadership. Paul says Jesus gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers “to equip his people for works of service” (Ephesians 4:11-12). It is a fivefold team, not a one-lane highway. But in many churches, the pastor teacher lane is cranked to full volume while the evangelist lane is barely audible. The result is predictable: Deep teaching. Strong care. Very little going. Meanwhile, research is waving its arms in the background. Barna reports that only about one in three Christians strongly feels a responsibility to share their faith. That is not just a discipleship problem. That is a mission drift problem.2 And the irony is painful: many churchgoers are still inviting. Lifeway found 60 percent of Protestant churchgoers invited someone to church in the past six months.3 But invitational evangelism alone cannot carry the weight it used to. The culture has changed. Trust has shifted. Schedules are packed. People are skeptical. We cannot keep relying on the service to do what everyday disciples were meant to carry.
WHEN MINISTRY BECOMES LOPSIDED
If the only question your leadership culture asks about Sunday is, “Did it go smoothly,” you may have built a cruise ship where Jesus wanted a rescue boat. Smooth services are not sinful. Excellence is not the enemy. But when excellence replaces engagement, we end up with sanctuaries full of saints and streets full of wounds. Here is what I mean by religion walking by in 2026: It looks like a church with a flawless weekend experience and no meaningful presence in the actual neighborhood. It looks like leaders who can exegete Greek verbs but cannot name one non-Christian friend. It looks like budgets that fund comfort better than compassion. It looks like theology that is correct and love that is optional. And it looks like the priest and the Levite, stepping around the mess because the mess might stain the schedule.
LEAVING THE OTHER SIDE
Conviction is a gift. It means the Spirit has not gone quiet and our hearts have not gone hard. The road is still right in front of us. You do not need a new building to cross it. You do not need a budget line to notice the bleeding. You do not need a title to move toward someone who feels left for dead. What you need, and what Jesus is calling us back to, is proximity over polish, obedience over optics, mercy over metrics. So here is the invitation for pastors and leaders:
• Let the Spirit interrupt your calendar
• Walk a little slower through your neighborhood
• Ask one more question of the person God keeps putting in your path
• Train your church not just to attend a service, but to adopt a street, a school, a workplace, a people
• Put evangelists back at the table, not as a personality type, but as a core priority
Because the Kingdom was never meant to be proven in temple courts alone. It is proven in the place where someone is bleeding, and somebody finally decides not to walk by. Let’s be that somebody. And if you want to go deeper, The Road We Must Travel Again will be released early 2026. Visit marcestes.com and sign up for the prerelease list now. The road is calling, and this time, we are crossing it.
Endnotes
Pew Research Center, “Religious and spiritual beliefs,” 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (Feb. 26, 2025): 83% of U.S. adults say they believe “God or a universal spirit” exists; 86% say humans have “a soul or spirit” in addition to a physical body.
Barna, “Faith’s Shrinking Influence: What 25 Years of Data Reveals”: only about one in three Christians strongly feels a responsibility to share faith.
Lifeway Research, “Most Churchgoers Invite Others to Join Them”: 60 percent of U.S. Protestant churchgoers invited someone in the past six months.