Yesterday I read a blog a friend of mine wrote about being a foster parent. She has been so real in her telling of her time as a foster mom. It’s been refreshing to read her highs AND her lows. So many times people make it seem like rainbows and fairy dust. As her blog post went on she admonished the church, the people in the pews, to be foster parents. And that got me thinking.
The Southern Baptist Convention is going through a challenging time right now. The climate in the convention is harsh. People are mad, wounded, looking to lash out. While others are defending the actions of men that have been so wrong and for so long.
I thought about my friends blog, her call to be a foster parent and began to put thoughts together of why more people can’t/won’t be foster parents. I’ve been in the church my whole life, I know Christians, I know church people. And this is what I know.
The men and women that are filling our churches are sinners. And sadly many of them are just fine living a life Monday-Saturday that is completely different than the life they portray on Sunday.
There are deacons who are addicted to porn, wives that are having affairs. Men that are hitting their wives, women that have a secret drinking problem, families that are in financial distress and can hardly pay the bills. Kids that are rebelling against their parents and their “Christian” ways. Parents that are struggling to help their children get thru school because of their ADHD, or because they’re being bullied, or because they just struggle with math or any host of reasons that kids struggle! Women that are usurping their husbands role in the home, women that are sabotaging churches, people that are going to work where their co-workers would be shocked to find they had spent Sunday in church because of the language they use, or their treatment of people of a different gender or race.
These are the people sitting in our pews. These are the people we want to be foster parents. These are the ones we want to help broken children in a broken system. How can they???!!
The problem is there is a disconnect between the staff in the church and it’s members. I understand the disconnect. I’ve been on both sides of it, and let me tell you this side of it, the members side, is tough! We’re out in the world. The offices, the non-churched are our coworkers and friends The preacher hasn’t ever heard the kind of language that is used around us on a daily basis. We’re trying to lead the life the preacher spoke of on Sunday but with no real help offered by the church. Sure the Bible is our help. It’s our map to live a holy, God-fearing, fulfilling life. But I’m so many of our churches it is assumed that everyone knows how to read their Bible and pray. We expect ALL the people to know what the people that have been in church for 60 years know.
Becoming a Christian is a week e experience. The fact that Jesus, the Son of God, wants to become the Lord of your life is awesome! It’s incredible. But it doesn’t come with instant knowledge of all things Bible, Jesus, and church. We, the church, HAVE got to be better. We HAVE to teach, disciple, the new Christians. But in order to do so, we have to get our lives in shape. We have to find a way out of the addictions, the abuse, the neglect, the financial distress we’re in.
I so wish I had answers and solutions. I don’t. But I will be praying that God shows the solutions to me or someone, hopefully someone else, that has the power to make sure changes are made.
We need a change, we know it. Are we ready for it?
The Southern Baptist Convention is going through a challenging time right now. The climate in the convention is harsh. People are mad, wounded, looking to lash out. While others are defending the actions of men that have been so wrong and for so long.
I thought about my friends blog, her call to be a foster parent and began to put thoughts together of why more people can’t/won’t be foster parents. I’ve been in the church my whole life, I know Christians, I know church people. And this is what I know.
The men and women that are filling our churches are sinners. And sadly many of them are just fine living a life Monday-Saturday that is completely different than the life they portray on Sunday.
There are deacons who are addicted to porn, wives that are having affairs. Men that are hitting their wives, women that have a secret drinking problem, families that are in financial distress and can hardly pay the bills. Kids that are rebelling against their parents and their “Christian” ways. Parents that are struggling to help their children get thru school because of their ADHD, or because they’re being bullied, or because they just struggle with math or any host of reasons that kids struggle! Women that are usurping their husbands role in the home, women that are sabotaging churches, people that are going to work where their co-workers would be shocked to find they had spent Sunday in church because of the language they use, or their treatment of people of a different gender or race.
These are the people sitting in our pews. These are the people we want to be foster parents. These are the ones we want to help broken children in a broken system. How can they???!!
The problem is there is a disconnect between the staff in the church and it’s members. I understand the disconnect. I’ve been on both sides of it, and let me tell you this side of it, the members side, is tough! We’re out in the world. The offices, the non-churched are our coworkers and friends The preacher hasn’t ever heard the kind of language that is used around us on a daily basis. We’re trying to lead the life the preacher spoke of on Sunday but with no real help offered by the church. Sure the Bible is our help. It’s our map to live a holy, God-fearing, fulfilling life. But I’m so many of our churches it is assumed that everyone knows how to read their Bible and pray. We expect ALL the people to know what the people that have been in church for 60 years know.
Becoming a Christian is a week e experience. The fact that Jesus, the Son of God, wants to become the Lord of your life is awesome! It’s incredible. But it doesn’t come with instant knowledge of all things Bible, Jesus, and church. We, the church, HAVE got to be better. We HAVE to teach, disciple, the new Christians. But in order to do so, we have to get our lives in shape. We have to find a way out of the addictions, the abuse, the neglect, the financial distress we’re in.
I so wish I had answers and solutions. I don’t. But I will be praying that God shows the solutions to me or someone, hopefully someone else, that has the power to make sure changes are made.
We need a change, we know it. Are we ready for it?
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