From a testimony reproduced at the Church And Culture Blog:
CS Lewis writes, “The church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply, a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.”
What do you think? How does this compare with John Wesley‘s statement,
You have one business on earth – to save souls
and what are the implications of ‘drawing men to Christ’, ‘making them little Christs’ and ‘saving souls’?
Big Circumstance 
For Wesley, salvation was holiness of heart and life, so I don’t believe there is a great deal of different between his understanding and Lewis’. A saved soul is one that is stamped with the image of Christ.
Wesley’s evangelical insistence on conversion might put him at some odds with Lewis. Drawing people to Christ and waking those asleep in their sins may call for different practices. Lewis suggests a more passive and attractional approach to being the church than Wesley does, at least to my ear.
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Beth Moore recounts a conversation she had with her husband in one of her Bible Studies. She said she was scared that a certain something would happening. Her husband said, “Well if “it”did happen, then what?” Moore told her husband than “this” would happen. Then he asked her if that happened then what might happen, and she replied that another particular awful thing might happen. This conversation kept going until Beth Moore said that she had stripped away every scenario and she answered, “Then there would be God.” She went on to say she realized whatever / however that situation would turn out (good or bad) God was there… never to leave her or forsake her… He is there.
John 10:10 says, “The thief (Satan) only comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, but I (Christ) have come that you might have life, and have life to its full.” PLEASE don’t overlook one of THE MOST important words in that verse… ONLY. Christ is saying in effect WAKE UP! Satan isn’t stopping by to see how things are going. He isn’t thinking about having tea and then maybe harm you. Satan is mission focused. He is there to steal you from God, to kill your relationship with the Heavenly Father, and to ultimately destroy you by separating you from the love of God through Jesus Christ forever…. ONLY THERE… ALWAYS TRYING!
How do Wesley’s and Lewis’ statements compare? Do we really have the luxury of wondering? Perhaps we do because we are saved and we know how much God loves us. I know Christ loves me and is always there for me. Yet, for the love of so many who strip away their problems and even their joys and find no God at the end of the answer, they need to know how much God loves them. The Bible calls us Christ’s Ambassadors. We are the keepers and proclaimers of Matthew 28:19! Stop wondering and start doing! I shared how much Christ loves “you” with a dear friend of mine this week. I knew that was exactly what I should do, and I didn’t wonder what my roll on earth was about. My friend thanked me and said that was just what he needed to hear. He hasn’t asked Christ to be his Lord and Savior yet, but he keeps asking questions.
Please tell someone how much God loves them today. If you do, you won’t wonder what your purpose for living should be. Someone once took the time to let you know how much God loves you through our Savior Jesus the Christ! Because I took the time to tell someone, I know I will see my dad who died of cancer, a young man I met at work who accepted Christ and is now a Methodist minister, and young girl who wandered into church after her however many college sexual experience with yet another stranger… a businessman who I sat by on the plane … and so it goes! JUST TRY and you won’t wonder, you will find what God has planned just for you and those He has placed you near.
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Peace by Gerard Manley Hopkins
When will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I’ll not play hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?
O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to peace thereafter. And when peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.
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