The importance of creating a relational environment of acceptance is part of our mission statement at clc. This is a compenent that I feel is missing from many of our PCG churches. For instance, we have a young man, senior in high school, that has been attending clc for 4 months now that is a cross dresser. I honestly looks like a girl. The school system here allows him to do this and even use the girls restroom. He wears heels every week, make-up, jewelry and the entire get up. We have not told him that if he wants to attend youth or clc on Sundays that he will have to dress as a young man. We have loved him, treated him as a young man and refered to him as a young man. 2 months back in a message series we were in i spoke of the decline of morality in our society through homosexual marriage, sexual perversion and sexual identity misplacement. I spoke the truth that God made us to be male and female and that the only Godly attraction we have is male for female and female for male. God created us to be who we are and not to be something he did not create to be. That day as this young man dressed as a woman left clc, he hugged me and thanked me for the message. Our goal as a church is to always love the unloveable and present Christ. We also make very clear that there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ and that there will not be any sin enter into heaven. Today this young man still attends every Wednesday for Zero Five student ministries and every Sunday for clc worship experience and still dresses as a woman. God will change him.
Another thought for you. We consistently have couples that come to clc who are not married but living together. We always love them and create a relational environment of acceptance for them regardless of what is going on in their lives. This is what we have experienced. In loving them to date as a church plant just over 5 years old now, we have had over 10 couples become part of clc that were not married but living together. To date i have married 7 of these couples with 2 weddings scheduled in the Spring. When we love them, preach the word and then allow God to speak to them without trying to clean them up ourselves, God will take care of them.
In our PCG churches i want to see more people like these listed and many more far from God be attracted to our churches. I want to see us create a relational environment of acceptance.
Here is the question: WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE NOT BEING ATTRACTED TO OUR CHURCHES??????
Please give me your honest comments and don't be afraid to be brutily honest. You want to know more about us and clc, check out our website: www.clcrolla.com
Unchurched people typically will not simply drop in on a church service, but most will visit a service if they have been invited by someone they know.
ReplyDeleteThere's two glitches here.
1. Church folks mostly hang out with other church folks - they don't know many unchurched people.
2. Church folks tend to only invite people they think might enjoy the church. Even if they do know someone on a fringe of society, they hesitate to invite them to their WASP church.