As we sat on my deck talking, Jim’s comment caught my attention: “What’s really important to me is to live a margined life.” The term puzzled me.

“What’s a margined life?” I asked.

“A margined life is having enough margin in my schedule to be available for people when they’re available. I want people to feel they’re welcomed and not interruptions.”

“Wow!” I thought to myself, “I’m a long way from this type of life.”

Time is a precious commodity for me. I find myself consciously, and unconsciously, living as a multi-tasker running from event-to-event, with little margin in my life. My schedule doesn’t allow for interruptions.

Peter Scazerro writes that a “pervasive form of contemporary violence is activism and overwork . . . it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.” When we’re too busy relationships suffer; margin provides time to invest in relationships, particularly with our unchurched friends and neighbors.

Time has become one of my primary hindrances for effective evangelism. It’s easy to be invested only in the Christian world. I fill my schedule with church volunteer opportunities and meetings, leaving little margin to invest in the lives of my non-Christian acquaintances and friends. We build the church at the expense of the gospel, diluting our ability to live on mission with the lost around us. Jesus lived life differently; He modeled how insiders can use their time.

Our Lord effortlessly made Himself available to interruptions (Matthew 9:1,2), requests for healings (Matthew 15:22), social gatherings (John 2:1,2), and meals with “sinners” (Luke 19:5-7). Theologian John State notes that “The church is the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefits of its nonmembers.” Think about this for a minute!

Now, I’m not an itinerant preacher free to wander from village to village and person to person. However, I can take some simple steps to embrace Jesus’ model. Let’s return to my conversation with Jim.

Jim has made an insider commitment: “If an unchurched friend invites me to do something with him socially, I drop whatever I’m doing to spend time with him.” Do I have margin in my schedule to do this?

Margin is created not by doing more but by changing priorities. I must edit my life and schedule to provide more time to connect with unchurched people. How can we build margin into our lives to engage with those outside our Christian circles? Here are some ideas Peggy and I have tried.

• Edit your schedule. What can you delete, delay, or drop out of?
• Look and schedule. Observe when neighbors are outside and plan to join them.
• Turn a solitary hobby into a joiner event. There are garden societies, book     clubs, walking or biking groups, pickle ball teams, and service groups to join.
• Buy a dog. My friend Lou has met almost all the neighbors in his cul-de-sac by walking his dog. Of course, you could accomplish the same thing by walking in your neighborhood in the evenings (and it’s cheaper!).
• Think smarter. Use current actives to meet people. These could include children’s school activities, eating lunch with co-workers, observing when others gather in the coffee area and join them.

My anxiety level goes up when I leave the familiar church world for the unchurched. A simple cure for this is to invite my spouse of a friend (s) to join me. After all, Jesus sent the twelve and then the seventy out two-by-two. 

Insiders know how to live margined lives, making themselves available to people on their terms, not our own. When we do this let’s pray for opportunities to start faith conversations. How can we “salt” conversations (Colossians 4:6) if we’re too busy to have conversations?

Time to reflect

• How would you describe the margin in your life, the ability to be available to people, particularly your unchurched acquaintances and friends?
• Do you have a healthy diet of Christian and unchurched friends or are you obese with Christian activities?
• How would you describe a healthy diet of both Christian activities and time with unchurched friends?

Books to read

The classic book on margin is Margin: The Overload Syndrome by Richard Swenson.