Posted by paxvox on July 30, 2003, at 17:25:23
In reply to Re: Church for social opportunity. » paxvox, posted by Tabitha on July 30, 2003, at 1:31:23
I don't know the particular church you are speaking of, so I can only speculate. However, most main-line (Christian) denominations aren't in the practice of trying to "trap" lambs, but in helping the "lost ones" find Jesus. Now, if you want a personal story, I can give you one, but it is probably more of a topic for the "faith" board. I'll try to be as short as possible. I started back to church in 1992 after not having gone regularly since high school (say 1977, or 1978). What I found were a bunch of really nice and friendly people, seemingly happy to see me there. Well, of course my first reaction was "sure, they are just being nice to me because I am visiting,etc..." However, week after week they responded very favorably to me, which after awhile convinced me that they were indeed genuine. 11 years later, I am now an Elder in that church,and when I meet someone, I try to be as open and friendly as those people were to me. On a side bar, I am in the process of starting up a small support group for people with "mental health" issues. This is a new thing for my VERY old and main-line church, and is raising a few eyebrows. But my feeling is that it's an issue as important as anything else a church congregation has to deal with. We just have, for so long, not WANTED to have to admit it needed to be talked about. With the "stigma" of mental health issues FINALLY starting to subside, perhaps the time is right to push this forward. Good luck in your endevors, just remember that a church DOES have a mission in mind every time it opens its doors.
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poster:paxvox
thread:245414
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030727/msgs/246846.html