Are we Ready for Him?

 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him approaching the front door.  He was 20 something, dirty and carrying a duffle bag.  I was preparing my best "we can feed you but we can't give you any money" speech when he walked past the office and went into the bathroom.

A minute later he emerged and asked if he could use our microwave to cook his food.  After he ate, our secretary assisted him in finding a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous and I drove him across town to the meeting place.

The young man puzzled me--he didn't ask for anything.  Not money, food nor a place to stay the night. What's his story?  We spoke for a few minutes--the subject changed from his two months of sobriety to his status as a college student in Virginia.

I learned he was on his way to a county in northern California where he could gather some hallucinogenic mushrooms to sell back in college.  Though he was trying to get off drugs himself, he wasn't above selling them to others.  He did, however, assure me that he didn't sell to kids or to first time users.  He was the first "ethical" drug pusher I ever met.

"Have you ever been to church." I asked him.  "Yea," he said, "the first time ever was in Tucumcarri."  "How did you like it."  "I felt real uncomfortable--like I didn't belong--the people there were all so wholesome." 

Do hospitals make sick people feel like they don't belong?  Do you know of a library that make the curious feel like they are ignorant for needing to read a book?  Can you imagine a dentist turning patients away because their teeth are bad?

Why do people who need the church the most feel like the church doesn't exist for them?  What can we do to change that perception?

Help Strangers feel at Home

Did your mother teach you it isn't polite to stare?  Mine did, yet I've  watched grown adults turn in their seats to "size up" a visitor, especially those that look out of place.  As our mothers taught us, so should we teach our members to help a stranger feel welcome, not on exhibit.

Develop Support Groups

No matter what we do, some people will never feel comfortable in a worship service.  That doesn't mean we can't minister to them.  Many churches are ministering to people through unconventional means such as support groups.

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I was the pastor of a Southern California Church when a 7.6 earthquake hit in our area.  Within two hours, we called the radio stations to announce a support group entitled "Coping with Earthquakes" led by a Psychologist in our church.  Over the next month we had more people come to the support groups than came to our Worship services.  Eventually, some of the people we met in that ministry came to our Sunday morning worship.

We allowed a local Alcoholics Anonymous chapter to use our building.  Though we did not participate in the programming, many in the meeting thought of me as their Pastor.  Some of them were saved and joined our church, others dropped an occasional donation by the office.

As we approached the church parking lot that hosted the NA meeting, I told him:  "The church exists for people like you."  His eyes showed disbelief.

"Listen, when you are ready to get help, the Lord will help you." "I know,"  he said.  We pulled into the driveway, he opened his door and shook my hand.  He got out, I drove away praying for him "Lord, may the church be ready for him when he is ready for the church."