12.08.04
Posted in culture at 12:33 am by
If my old church wasn’t ready to make ME (a heterosexual, white man) feel welcome, that church (and thousands of other churches like it) are up shit crick without a paddle. How in the world are these churches ever going to handle people like this person that Brian writes about over at The Faithful Skeptic. Here’s an excerpt of what Brian’s talking about:
One of the officers was talking about prostitution in our town and kept referring to these women as hookers, whores, and street-walkers. I understand that officers can become jaded and not see the humanity of the people they work with, but I kept thinking how cruel it was to refer to this girl as a whore.
The whole post is really worth the read, my excerpt hardly does it justice. Here’s my question. The church is supposed to reach out to everyone, right? I don’t know about you but I certainly can’t imagine this girl staggering in from a night out on the street and getting a whole lot of “Hi, so great to have you this morning’s,” or “Hey, you want to come to youth group?”
The assumption of church-goers (myself included in those ranks) has historically been that society’s fringe populations have not gone to church because they weren’t interested in church. I think that’s bullshit. It’s a cop-out. My guess is that many people don’t go to church because often the most vocal Christians are assholes.
I know that probably all of the churches that I’ve been involved with wouldn’t be prepared for a prostitute to come to Church. The Church isn’t a place where people can feel safe anymore. New people come in and the established congregation fears those who aren’t exactly like them. They relegate them to the fringe.
I find that all depressing. Somebody let me know when you find a church the prostitutes and drug addicts go to on a regular basis. Then, I think I’ll have found a church home.
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Posted in culture at 12:33 am by
If my old church wasn’t ready to make ME (a heterosexual, white man) feel welcome, that church (and thousands of other churches like it) are up shit crick without a paddle. How in the world are these churches ever going to handle people like this person that Brian writes about over at The Faithful Skeptic. Here’s an excerpt of what Brian’s talking about:
One of the officers was talking about prostitution in our town and kept referring to these women as hookers, whores, and street-walkers. I understand that officers can become jaded and not see the humanity of the people they work with, but I kept thinking how cruel it was to refer to this girl as a whore.
The whole post is really worth the read, my excerpt hardly does it justice. Here’s my question. The church is supposed to reach out to everyone, right? I don’t know about you but I certainly can’t imagine this girl staggering in from a night out on the street and getting a whole lot of “Hi, so great to have you this morning’s,” or “Hey, you want to come to youth group?”
The assumption of church-goers (myself included in those ranks) has historically been that society’s fringe populations have not gone to church because they weren’t interested in church. I think that’s bullshit. It’s a cop-out. My guess is that many people don’t go to church because often the most vocal Christians are assholes.
I know that probably all of the churches that I’ve been involved with wouldn’t be prepared for a prostitute to come to Church. The Church isn’t a place where people can feel safe anymore. New people come in and the established congregation fears those who aren’t exactly like them. They relegate them to the fringe.
I find that all depressing. Somebody let me know when you find a church the prostitutes and drug addicts go to on a regular basis. Then, I think I’ll have found a church home.
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http://www.badchristian.com/2004/12/08/church_rant_vol_2/trackback/
Pen said,
December 8, 2004 at 8:10 am
Mercy Street - an Outreach of Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Houston, TX. It is a contemporary (the shop talk word is Coffee House) service that reaches out to those who are burned out on church or who are in recovery or seekin g recovery from addiction. The congregation is clearly a hard living group. But they are hearing the gospel and finding discipleship in a place that doesn’t require them to dress up, fake it, or put on airs. It is the service I attend when I am not required to be pastor elsewhere. Also see St. John’s United Methodist in downtown Houston, TX.
Streak said,
December 8, 2004 at 9:31 am
Interesting. My wife and I used to attend church. I stopped going primarily because I was tired of having to act differently. I am not talking about my swearing, but just the whole language and kind of fake smile that people have to put on to go. Being “real” seemed disallowed, and those who dared express dissension or anger at the church/god were quickly squelched. It isn’t just the prostitutes and junkies that are unwelcome. It is woman beaten by her pastor/deacon husband. she may be welcome, but her pain and frustration and anger are not.
Brandon said,
December 8, 2004 at 10:16 am
Praise God, Pen, that those places exist!
jpe said,
December 8, 2004 at 11:32 am
she may be welcome, but her pain and frustration and anger are not.
that’s an excellent way to put it, and it sure matches my experience with those situations.
What this highlights is that a big problem is the attitude with which ‘outsiders’ are approached by mega-churchers (which I’m using as shorthand for ‘affluent suburban churches) seems shaped by a lack of familiarity with problems that aren’t related to mortgage payments or minivans, which in turn finds expression in a paternalistic attitude. Granted, this is just based on anecdotal evidence, but from reading the post and the replies, it sounds like my experiences aren’t isolated incidents.
Christopher said,
December 8, 2004 at 12:30 pm
brother Brandon,
Here’s another worship and mission community Temenos Catholic Worker. I feel your frustration; I often feel the same way, but I’m finding communities doing things different, and frankly, that often involves a shift in how we treat one another and how we organize together that shifts from hierarchy as top-down to hierarchy as diverse gifts participating at the table together. I wrote to brother Joe on his beautiful retelling of “Barrington Bunny”…”What if started with bowing to one another as if we were each Christ?”
Bows.
Were we to begin from that place we couldn’t help but treat one another and organize together differently. Have you tried a Friends Meeting, a Catholic Worker House, a Benedictine Community, or perhaps something like the Methodist house Pen mentioned, or gathering with folks with this intent in homes? These may be places where you can engage?
Blessed and Blessing,
Liesa said,
December 8, 2004 at 1:26 pm
I know our church would accept them. Two of our members (that I can think of off hand) have a long history with drugs, sexual immorality (for lack of a better term), violence and really terrible histories. They’ve been welcomed and accepted into our church… They’ve also changed their lifestyles because of it.
Dan Olson said,
December 11, 2004 at 9:48 pm
Hmm, I’ve always been slightly disturbed by the trends among evangelical churches today… turning church services into circuses and movies and concerts all in the name of trying to attract nonbelievers. All the time, the Christians stay holed up. If we become enough like the world, maybe the world will want to be like us, and then we can save them!
I realize that a lot of people here come at things with different presuppositions than I do, but I think the whole point of church services is not to bring people in, but to get people out. By this I mean challenging the Christians to get out of their comfort zones and practice true religion, which we know to be visiting orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself unstained from the world. If we take a look at the social situations of the first century and the twenty-first, we see that it’s safe to substitute “prostitues and drug addicts” in for orphans and widows.
I agree with the premise. Churches should welcome all people. It’s a tragedy when they don’t and about as directly opposed to the message of the Bible as possible. I just think it’s important that churches don’t spend their time working on how to attract drug users and prostitutes to their churches. The key is to get out there and help people, or to “be Christ to them” in the popular evangelical terminology.
Brian Jones said,
December 15, 2004 at 10:42 am
Whoa, great blog. I’ll be back.
One of my challenges as a regular church goer is to remember that I don’t need to look for those who have fallen spectacularly and uniquely; the everyday greedheads, lusters, self-centered people I find myself surrounded by every Sunday (and every day) are sufficient. Although I’m sure many of us have fallen SPECTACULARLY, we’re all dealing with the same problem: our distance from God and our resultant inability to give our hearts to His kingdom.
I could probably find myself commenting on every single post on this blog. I’m frustrated by the level of HappyGodTalk that masks the true pain and frustration we all must feel…unless we’ve been lobotomized, willingly or not.
Anyway. Welcome to the blogroll (soon) and let me know if I yak too much.
j ryan said,
July 3, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Do you know of any resources for a 21 yr old young man who is about to be homeless due to poor choices/drugs, alcohol?
I used to know someone who worked at Mercy Street - Suzanne Jones - is she still there?
thank you - judy ryan