Winona,

Once again, you have challenged us to be thoughtful about a very real and practical matter.  Thank you.

How can we be effective missionaries unless we are among the people we are trying to reach, known to them and open to them so they know us as friends whom they can trust? Thinking we can be separate from the world and somehow influence it from a distance is an oxymoron that we need to leave behind.  Instead, we need to go into the world emboldened and empowered by our relationship with God and doing things that show His power by what others see in us and that touch others with His love by what we do.  We need to engage with the world, else we will fail to fulfill the task Jesus gave us to go and make disciples.