THIS MAY OFFEND SOME, but we had a problem last night and I had to make a really difficult choice. It is one thing to SPEAK UP AND OUT about your faith. It is totally something different to SMOTHER OTHERS WITH YOUR BELIEFS. One thing is EVANGELISM. The other is VACCINATION, or vaccinating people against this passionate Christ virus that you have in your heart. Last night i was forced to a decision, and the choice I made once again offended some folks and made others plain down outright mad. But once again we were forced into a situation that was causing more damage than good, and goes to show why sometimes THE CHURCH IS OUR ENEMY when it comes to trying to reach young people for Christ. Let me explain. We had guests. A group of Christian ladies came to our home to visit the boys, pray for them, and bring dinner. I spoke with them last Saturday, and made it very clear. If you want to come and get to know our boys, then you are welcome. If you want to come and carry out your own religious service, then you need to rethink your priorities. The group came, and they brought a pastor friend and his wife. We showed them around the home. Then they asked their pastor to share. He did really well. But then they began to pray for and over the boys. Soon the ladies were wailing and crying, and many were singing loudly through their repertoire of songs. Then they began to ask the boys if they wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts. After about ten minutes, a few boys finally started to oblige. That is when I pulled David aside. The question was, Stop the chaos, and possibly offend our guests. Or let it continue, and then put up with the boys complaints later on. We have problems with visits in our home. Sadly, the only thing churches know how to do is come and preach to the boys. We have zero (0) people from our community who come to work alongside the boys or help out in the home. We have a church or two a month who want to come and preach to the boys. The problem is simple. PREACHING TO PEOPLE DOES NOT WORK THAT WELL. Building RELATIONSHIPS with people leads to opportunities to SHARE OUR FAITH. You need to earn the trust and friendship of those you truly want to impact. Simple steps can be taken to build up that opportunity. If you do things right, then they will open the doors themselves, for you to share. David asked me if I was going to let it continue. Most of the boys were already quite annoyed at the intrusion, but were sitting quietly. I returned and in a lull asked for them to stop. Im not too diplomatic at times, but I tried my best. They were offended, but they stopped. I shared that if they wanted to be allowed back in the home, they needed to develop real relationships with the boys. If they simply wanted to come and make a lot of noise, and then march out saying they had won 10 boys to Christ, then they had accomplished their mission. After our guests left, I asked the boys if I was in the right or wrong about stopping the guests from dragging them to repentance. The outpouring of comments and complaints was interesting. Why can Christians not understand we dont need to be preached at? Why wont they listen to us? Why dont they really care about who we are, our problems, our struggles? The pastor admitted they didnt have a clue how to reach out to others or form relationships. He said that they are taught in the church to go out and pray and preach, but not to listen, relate, and connect. The struggle for me is to see boys wanting to learn more about God and form a real relationship, but to constantly bump up against churches and Christians who dont really seem to care. We are so blessed to have guests like Sharon Carey and friends from Shelby, North Carolina, and Jane Jane M Robinson, who do come, serve, share, and in the process gain a real entry into our hearts. How can we help the local church understand other ways to minister without plowing through lives and often causing more damage than good? I thought I would share this struggle with you because sometimes we are caught up in the middle of beliefs and religions, Christians and Christianators, and those who simply come to our home to do some charity,and then walk out the door feeling fulfilled. The question I believe we must ask is, ARE WE DOING THIS MINISTRY FOR OURSELVES, OR FOR THOSE WE ARE SERVING? And is WHAT WE ARE DOING TRULY LEADING OTHERS TOWARDS CHRIST, OR PUSHING THEM AWAY FROM HIM?
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 15:47:05 +0000
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