I spent last weekend at a most unusual church. It’s a new church, less than ten years old, but it’s been experiencing significant growth because it is very intentionally reaching out to people who feel they are not welcome at traditional churches.
In church I sat next to a man with long hair, tattoos, chains…and he sat in church and listened attentively to the sermon about Jesus’ forgiveness and love for all people.
A woman comes from a part of town known for drugs and prostitution. When she came to this church and found out how forgiving Jesus is, she brought others, probably brought more people to Jesus than you or I have.
I met a young woman making her way through life with drugs and sex. Later I saw her with a man. “Is that her boyfriend?” I asked. “No, he’s her pimp. He abuses her but she’s afraid to leave him.” Church members are working and praying for her.
People reproached Jesus for being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” but Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Matthew 11:19; Luke 19:10) The weekend made me wonder how Christ-like I and many of us traditional church people really are.
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