Church... Why would I go there?

In my down time I've been doing some drug awareness sessions with various groups.  It helps me to stay sharp as a group worker and keeps me in touch with what is happening outside of the 'Christian bubble'.  I worked with one group of young adults for several weeks, looking at a wide range of issues around drug misuse and making healthy choices.  A number of these young adults are/were drug users, and all of them had faced their fair share of problems e.g. unemployment, homelessness etc.

During one session 'Asking For Help' we did a group activity which involved cards describing various scenarios that young people might encounter e.g. 'A teenager gets violent everytime he goes drinking with his mates'.  The group then had various sources of help to choose from and they had to match them up with each scenario.  The idea was simply 'where would you encourage someone to go if they were facing this issue?'  One source of help was 'A Church Leader'.  I watched as the group reviewed each scenario and laid the cards describing each source of help out on the table, instantly a group member picked up the 'Church Leader' card and put it to the side saying "Why the  #$*!  would you go there"? 
When the task was completed we debriefed it and I asked "Is there anyone or anywhere you would not go to for help?"  Almost in unison the group said 'A Church Leader' (by the way at this stage they had no idea I was a Church leader).  I asked them why they didn't see a church leader as a viable source of help and one girl in the group spoke up "If I was a young person and I was struggling with drugs I'd already feel bad about myself, so why would I go to a church for help? they would just make me feel even worse".  I was humbled by her honesty and heartbroken by her response, this was the voice of the broken, the needy, those living on the margins, those Jesus came to seek and save, but they felt judged, condemned and excluded by the one place they should be welcomed. 

It reminded me of a story in “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” Philip Yancey writes about a woman who went to see a counselor in Chicago and she explained that she was a drug addict. In fact, she had prostituted herself and her two year old baby daughter to get money to support her habit. She had hit rock bottom. The counselor didn’t know what to say. Finally, he asked her, “Have you thought of going to a church for help?” He said, “I’ll never forget the look of shock on her face as she said, ‘Church! Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse!’”
When you read the gospels you find that people like this woman, the very “worst of sinners,” were drawn to Jesus. Why? I think it’s because He didn’t make them feel worse, He made them feel loved. And He knew this secret that somehow the church has lost. It’s that love is what turns a life around. The way to change a life is not through pointing out or judging someone’s sin, but through love. That’s why messed up, sinful people were attracted to Jesus – because of His love. But today people don’t associate Christians and church with love and grace, but instead judgment and condemnation.  And that’s so sad, because the one thing the church should major in is grace, because the world thirsts for grace. People thirst for grace.

Church what have we done?  I've seen it time and time again, we've told people you're not welcome here, you don't belong because you don't look or behave like we think you should!  Just recently Val watched an adult verbally rip into a young person just because he was riding a skate board through church property.  I've heard adults refer to young people like these as the 'undesirables', but you know what, they are highly desirable to Jesus!  They are thirsty for grace, hungry for love.  I live for the day when the broken will see the church as the place for help and healing, because it is marked by grace.  And grace changes everything. 

Comments

[Rach J]

I totally understand why they would say that, I've heard it time and time again. And has even came out of my own mouth at times. But everything must change. The church as a whole needs a united front and thats been the prayer of my heart for a long time. I heard this quote this week 'The church is the only army that leaves their wounded and broken soliders behind.'
Did you tell the group that in the end you are a church leader?

[anon]

i was talking to 2 guys the other night and this is exactly what they were talking about, they 'hated' religion because of the way religious people have treated them and their lifestyle. what broke me totally was that one of the guys said that he really wanted to believe in God, that he created the world and has a plan and he knows why terrible things happen, but he just couldnt because of the way religion has treated him. he spoke so passionately and openingly about wanting to have a faith and was genuinely searching and asking questions, it is such a shame that the people who he really needs to talk to and the places he has to go to find such people are the only things that are pushing him away.
i really pray that this changes and i do see it happening slowly but are people really doing enough to want to see God saving lost people?

[Graeme]

Hey brother, we need a fire in our churches. And we only have two options. One is a fire from the Holy Spirit at which time there many who will repent and see Jesus up close.
The other option of fire revolves around some phone calls to guys I know, a collection of glass bottles and a visit to the local BP.

Sometimes I want that option, but really we the need the first.

Stay strong.

[James]

I have been in "church" all my life. I haven't yet found the "perfect one" and know I won't till that DAY. It is full of imperfect people who need Jesus just like I do. Can I have my cake and eat it? Can I have a church that welcomes sinners and then criticise it for sinful behaviour?

The church I belong to is a place of pain and grace, despair and hope, bad relationships and broken people, loud mouths and quiet hearts, the angry and the peacemaker, the sad and the happy, those who are far away and those who are near, the lost and found, the weak and the strong, the wheat and the tares, the greatest sin and the most amazing grace. It is messy, and troubled and kind and loving and difficult and faithful and fickle and right and wrong and .........just like the church at Corinth and Ephesus and Jerusalem and Laodicea and Rome ........and like Jesus said it would be....I love it, because He does.
I am so glad that Jesus called you and I to be part of it.

[Paul]

Amen... I'm glad to be part of this rag tag band of ragamuffins. Oh yes, the church truly is a beautiful mess. And sadly so many have lost hope in the church, but I'm not advocating that we sit on the sidelines and complain about the church we see... I say lets set out hearts on becoming the church we dream of... the church God calls us to be. Lets be the hospital for the broken and the sin sick, lets champion Kingdom values, lets not fall asleep in the light.