Church beyond singing...

"now, this ...." he looks around at a room of assorted humanity "... is my church, my family, there is something special here...".

"I've tried churches before, we sing songs and then no-one wants to know you afterwards..."

"That's a shame Tyronne..."

I'm talking to Tyronne who has opened up to me about how his faith was shot through and how Faith House over three years has been there for him.

"I used to come for the free handouts", Tyronne continues, "not now, this ...." he looks around at a room of assorted humanity "... is my church, my family, there is something special here...".

I don't really know Tyronne - what I do know is enough to know that this is a significant moment for him and actually me. The moment hung for seconds and then was gone as the need not to miss out on a new coat was then his priority.

Tyronne stayed and prayed with us and then left after hugging his family that is Faith House.

Travelling to and from Faith House is good reading time for me - so the context for this evening is set by a back issue of Leadership Journal. In particular an interview with some guy reaching into one of the poorest areas (aren't they always!) in Portland. Two questions inparticular:

"What shoud a church expect if it begins to reach out to people on the margins? Don't expect it to grow numerically. It will grow your church, but it will grow it deep...!"

"What do you mean by see the gospel"? I guarantee there isn't a homeless person in Portland who couldn't tell you the gospel verbatim. They've had to listen to it three times a day to get a sandwich. They've heard about Christ, but they haven't seen Christ..."


Comments

Rochelle said…
Thank you for this story. Great point about homeless people having heard the 3 times (in my experience with talking with homeless people in Toronto, it was much, much more than 3 times), but perhaps never having SEEN Christ. Great challenge.
2:09 PM
jsi said…
Your post is poignant. You are very right, people can hear the gospel time upon time, but seeing it is a whole different matter.
You bring an incredible challenge today...to be the visible gospel.
8:28 PM
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