Last night we had a group in to help us out... we decided to see if there were people in the community who might be interested in helping us out a bit- to take some of the strain off of the team... financially, and time wise. We get a few weeks where we can really just come in, hang out with our friends... it's great. Before we decided to go ahead and ask around, we talked a lot about how we could protect our friends... ummm... from Church People.
I know.. that sounds bad.. and I think I've brought it up in the past... but there's the very real possibility that even with the best intent... people could say something that would really hurt our friends, or hurt our ability to be there.
After an incident at dinner last night, in my heart... more than ever, I feel like I need to somehow help people recognize that it's not about us, about us and what we're doing I mean.. it's about what God is doing ... does that make sense?
Read Ruth's blog this week... it's super. (And she's a much better writer than me, I get too impassioned and have to keep erasing what I've typed.)
3 comments:
Protecting from "Church People"? That's worse than bad. When people are willing to step in and help out for the summer so the primary team doesn't burnout they shouldn't be subject to criticism. At least they stepped up to the plate when asked. Isn't God at work in the "Church People" as well?
1) don't hide behind "anonymous" thank you very much.
2) sorry you haven't been a part of the ongoing conversation of what I mean by "church people"... that could sound like I'm bashing them, but I'm not. there was hesitation in my use of the word (as evident by the "ummmm.... from church people") and if you read the link, you'd see that I have every respect for people who do things out of goodness and care- lol, if you knew me at all, you'd know my feelings about this topic... however, sadly- as an anonymous entity limited to my poorly written thoughts- you're missing a lot of the story. I'm the B.L that wrote the email in Ruth's blog post.
I do however recognize that there are people out there (be they "church people" or not) who do things so they can say to others, or to themselves "good for me, look what I'm doing" OR, in the case of the "Church People" (note capitalization) those that feel they need to storm in, preach, leave, and hurt in their wake.
I am increadibly thankful that there are people who have stepped up!
My concern is the language that is used or actions...that can hurt with or without intent.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by :)
oh wait.. I forgot part...
the whole point to the original email to Ruth.. and the part of the post that I erased after writing three times.... was that we need to work to educate people- so that they can effectively be able to minister to those who are in need- in need of food, in need of friendship... or in need of being a gentleman at that moment in time (read the post link).
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