I remember watching members of the evangelism team at a local megachurch wandering the streets of Downtown Minneapolis, handing out tracts and praying with people in an attempt to lead them to Christ. My kids attended Sunday School there because the Sunday School at my home church wasn’t very good at this point, so I was a regular at their Sunday evening services.
I never saw people who had prayed with this team in the auditorium. Instead, I met a lot of folks whose lives had been changed through the food pantry ministry, the chemical dependency clinic, their children’s participation in the private school on campus, and the bookstore. All of these spaces provided acts of signs and wonders in these people’s lives that they could expressly point to, and that led to them changing their lives in the way God was calling them to.
Just preaching the word isn’t enough. It must be followed by signs, deeds, and other practices. Collecting classroom supplies for a young teacher just starting out is a personal way for Christians to say that God loves you and that everything will be OK. Then it’s up to God. God does the work of changing the heart. God does the work of helping people deal with past hurt and trauma. But by simple acts, we can partner with God to make a small piece of creation a little better.