There is a difference between building a ministry and ministering. It seems to me that much of the focus on believers in the Church over the past couple of decades has been on building itself up and not a lot on ministering to the unsaved.
It isn't really a lot of fun being around or hanging out with unsaved people. They don't talk the way church people talk. Many drink and some smoke, as some of us did back in the day, so we don't really feel a part of the crowd; and we're not. But I wonder if our discomfort has caused us to move away from the very things we are supposed to be focused on doing, i.e., being a light in the darkness.
I worked full-time up until 2006, and when I think back, my greatest contributions to the Kingdom and influence among the unsaved occurred when I was working on jobs. It was on the job that I had to walk the talk, and many unsaved people noticed and I had quite a few opportunities over the years to lead many to Christ. Primarily it was because of where I was stationed -- on the job.
Anytime we withdraw from a place in society, it leaves a vacuum, and that vacuum will be filled by somebody. What we are experiencing right now in our American society at large, is a vacuum that has been filled by secularists and unbelievers. In other words, they hold many of the key positions in education, health care, technology, entertainment, politics, and the media.
While we were building our big churches, they were building their careers and securing positions of influence and power. They took dominion, and we didn't.
I am DianaForHim