In preparation Wednesday night, I was reading a book, What's so amazing about Grace by Philip Yancey. I like his stuff! he uses stories and can really keep the readers attention. However, I was disturbed by one of the stories he shares to start off the book. It's a quote from a friend of his from Chicago:
My prayer is that the church would be a refuge for people; all people. Each of us are on in a different place in our relationship with Christ. The church exists to help people continue to make steps toward Jesus. It sounds so easy here, but its not. I want to help people become Children of God, and experience what that means.
One word of clarification. Being a refuge for all people does not mean that the church should accept the sin that one is living in. I don't believe Jesus accepted the sin, but He did love the sinner unconditionally. He also spoke truth to them and challenged them to change.
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. no matter where you are in life, I'd like to hear how you feel when you walk into a church, if you do. How can the church be more of the refuge that Jesus was, while still challenging people to take their next step with Christ?
A prostitute came to me in wretched straits, homeless, sick unable to buy food for her two year old daughter. Through sobs and tears, she told me she had been renting out her daughter--two years old!-- to men interested in kinky sex. She made more renting out her daughter for an hour than she could earn on her own in a night. She had to do it, she said, to support her own drug habbit. I could hardly bear hearing her sordid story. For one thing, it made me legally liable - I'm required to report cases of child abuse. I had no idea what to say to this women.How sad. Are all churches really condemning? As a pastor, our church or student ministry to be a condemning place. I want church to be a place that people flock to for help. Yancy reminded his readers that in the Bible, prostitutes and criminals flocked toward Jesus and took refuge in him. Is the church of America too busy with ministry that we forget about those who need Jesus? Are we too worried about what others might think of us to welcome in those who need Jesus? Are we too comfortable with who we have now, that we don't seek to open our doors to others?
At last I asked her if she had ever thought of going to a church for help. I will never forget the look of pure, naive shock that crossed her face. "Church!" she cried. "Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. they would just make me feel worse."
My prayer is that the church would be a refuge for people; all people. Each of us are on in a different place in our relationship with Christ. The church exists to help people continue to make steps toward Jesus. It sounds so easy here, but its not. I want to help people become Children of God, and experience what that means.
One word of clarification. Being a refuge for all people does not mean that the church should accept the sin that one is living in. I don't believe Jesus accepted the sin, but He did love the sinner unconditionally. He also spoke truth to them and challenged them to change.
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. no matter where you are in life, I'd like to hear how you feel when you walk into a church, if you do. How can the church be more of the refuge that Jesus was, while still challenging people to take their next step with Christ?
