God Sightings

1 John 3: ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

Yesterday I talked about the importance of seeing evidence of God not just in nature, but more importantly in our lives.  1 John 3:14 tells us in so many words that love (agape) is the evidence of faith.  So when I look around for agape, I see our church reaching out to those in need "under the shadow of our steeple" in so many ways.  For years now, since stopping at the "Coffee Shop" looking for breakfast and finding a homeless ministry, Bill Todd has been relentlessly following a clear call from God to minister to those who for whatever reason find themselves homeless.  He has become integrally involved in the homeless programs of the county, initiated a sub-committee in our church, and focused not on meeting, but on real action with an impact on people.  He hasn't announced his plans for God nor did he wait on funding or a major program of the church.  He stopped to buy breakfast, met people who had none, and rolled his sleeves up and got involved.  That answer to a call has pulled others into the mix.  We help with Trinity UMC's outreach with a long running Soup Kitchen Ministry.  We're now launching a breakfast ministry and when we meet to discuss it, it's genesis is from a heart for people in need as a opposed to trying to do something for ourselves or God.  This defines agape.  Agape is evidence of faith.  This is clear evidence of a vibrant faith in a living God that can motivate people to answer His command to love others.  People in our church are clearly motivated and aren't asking questions about where the money will come from or how to plan a program or what the tag line will be or how to advertise.  These are people with a singular motivation to reach out to a clearly hurting and potentially lost world of real people.  People like Bill have followed the example of Peter and stepped out of the boat without question expecting God to equip the call.  In Bill's case, he stepped out without a clear understanding of the call.  These are examples of faith in action.  Jesus' half-brother James would be impressed. 
Contrast those acts of agape for a minute with our current focus on building an assisted living facility.  What's the focus?  First it is on self-preservation.  I hear things like "studies show that churches must augment their offering plate with sound investments or they will die."  We've had meetings, poured over data, and pondered how quickly we'll see a positive return on our investment.  Clearly this could be an opportunity presented by God to provide for his people.  Yet, I don't hear this project presented in this way.  I hear "this is what we can do to help ourselves."  Where is the evidence of faith?  Where is the evidence of God at work? 
To be clear, I'm neither for, nor against the assisted living facility project.  I have no discernment from God on this (and I'm frustrated as to why God remains silent on this to me - apparently I'm not to be involved).  I'm simply comparing and contrasting two things going on in church on pointing out how easy it is to see God motivating his people to love others (where else does agape come from except God?) vs what appears to be a complex business deal focused on self-preservation.  The former stems from and provides clear testimony to God while the latter seems to lack a requirement for faith in God.  I look forward to your thoughts as to why I'm off base here.