Thinking through my years of being a part of the institutional church, my years spent at a Bible college, there was always a sense of identifying or should I say, judging, that went on to determine with whom we as Christians should spend time.  We analyzed doctrines to know who believed what and which ones were of the utmost importance in considering whether or not we would fellowship with people of "other" faiths. Let me take you back to an incident in my life that points this out.

I was living in Philly at the time and I was traveling to southern Virginia to make a presentation about our kids ministry that we were doing there.  About half way there, my car engine went out.  I had no emergency fund at that time to take care of an expense like that nor did I have the available credit to pay for a repair or a tow back to Philly.  What does one do?  Well, being a part of the church, I figured I would call some to find one who still had somebody at the office on a Friday afternoon.  I started with the churches I was affiliated with at that time.  I managed to reach someone at a non-instrumental Church of Christ (my background is Christian Church/Church of Christ instrumental).  When the person from that church came to help us out, I shared our similar background, and the comment was made, "I am not sure if I should be helping someone like you out." (The exact comment is getting fuzzier but that was the point being made.)  Simply because I believed that having instruments for worship may have hindered me from receiving help from this church.  God's grace prevailed and they did help me out  but that is how far we go to dividing ourselves.

One influence in my life has been Brian McLaren.  The one thing that I felt was the most important lesson I learned from him: be a genuine friend regardless of where their journey takes them.  So often in life, if someone goes down a path that is not the same one as ours, we dump them and move on to the next target.  For years, evangelism became a numbers game.  It was all about attendance at a service on a particular day so that we could influence people to become just like us.  If you didn't fit the mold, it was time to move on. 

We must get to the point where we accept people for who they are, where they are, and also, where they are heading.  We don't influence people for the Kingdom by shunning them in hopes that they would so drastically miss our friendship that they will change their lives to win it back.  We must present Jesus to people so that when they see Him, they would want to know Him as we do.  He is the Water that satisfies the thirsty.  He is the Bread that satisfies the hunger.  He is the Healer that cares for the wounded.  We become Him to the world so that others would know Him.  Our part is to be there in people's lives so that at the right time, He can shine through even if they aren't following a path that is the same as ours.

Who is in your life right now that you have maintained a friendship with despite the fact of where they are spiritually?  Who are you actively reaching out to as a friend who is in a downward spiral of sin with no signs of remorse or thoughts of changing their lifestyle?  These are people whom God may have put in our lives to be there on the day they come to the realization that there might be a better life.  Don't give up on them.  Don't caste them aside simply because they aren't in the same place as you on this journey of life.