Just had someone walk into my church, into my office, and blurt out that they wanted to join. I'd never seen them before in my life. So I talked to them for awhile and determined what they really needed was help paying for clothes and groceries. That part was easy... five minutes later I'd given them a voucher to the local grocery store, and then addressed the church membership thing.
"Tell you what. We worship on Sundays at 9 for the Summer, then transition to 10 am in the fall. Why don't you come and worship with us a few times, see if it connects with you, and then we'll talk about membership. In the meanwhile, good luck. Take this voucher to the local grocery and they'll take care of you."
I wish I could say that this was the first time I saw something like this, but it isn't. Someone needs help, comes to a church, and leads with membership in the hopes that will loosen the ol' purse strings a bit. A few years ago I might have been angry at the ones doing it, feeling that they were manipulating me, but then I remembered that this is a learned behavior.
Somewhere along the way, the lesson was learned that the best way to get help from the church, or other faith based organizations, is to prostitute your soul. And that means that we, as the church, have been ROYALLY SCREWING UP, because we were the ones who taught that lesson.
Somewhere along the line, someone decided that "saving souls" was the goal, and pursued it by holding physical needs ransom. I mean we HAD been commanded by Christ to make disciples, we had also been commanded to feed the hungry. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
It even comes with a built in guilt removal mechanism... if the person then doesn't follow through with a conversion essentially obtained by force, then we get to play the role of the manipulated "holier than thou," the party just trying to tend to the needs of the world only to be disappointed by the dishonest souls we found.
But it's bullshit. Because we are called to feed and clothe those who need it. We're not called to make them sign on the dotted line first. And in the meantime millions of people who maybe could use the comfort the gospels truly preached could provide see them only as an elaborate con, the devils bargain they are forced to sign in return for things they desperately need. A trap. Why wouldn't they want to escape it.
There are a thousand justifications for this behavior but each and every one of them boils down to a power trip... using our ability to assuage the needs of those we find to force them into a behavior, rather than by trying to make that behavior appeal. We are met to witness to them... instead, we try to take them hostage.For millions, the damage has already been done, yet another reason (amid MANY) that people will never, ever, trust the church.
Christians, we are called to feed the hungry. To house the homeless. To clothe the naked. To tend to the sick, to visit the prisoner. We are also called to witness... but that means showing people the love of Christ. If the love they are shown is the love of a pistol held to their head while we wait for them to sign the dotted line... is it any wonder that people leave?
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