Tightropes and Fences

I'm still recovering from the long journey to Tulsa and back, but was able to function today for the most part. I went with a group from the Capital City Christian Church (Raleigh, NC) this morning to help an elderly widow remove some flooded appliances from her home. She was delightful to visit with and we prayed together as well. She told me that she will be visiting Central soon. We are coming close to the end of 31 Nights of Good News, with just a few nights left. One thing I didn't really think about ahead of time was that this means 31 Nights of Preparing Power Point Presentations. But it's been fun. Tonight some of the members of the University Church of Christ in Conway, AR helped lead singing. Brother Dwayne from Raleigh brought tonight's lesson. It was on the subject of being humble, attempting to meet the needs of others before our own, and being tolerant and accepting of those who differ. This is a very needed message for today, all over the brotherhood. I want to share a few things from my heart tonight that may be uncomfortable for some of my readers. I've also re-written and re-read, attempting to be kind in all of my remarks towards all people. I have tried to be open about most everything happening here on the Coast, and especially at Central. I write about each day's events. I have a work crew list on the links panel (to the right) with a listing of the many people who are coming to help us in our relief effort. When I know a link to their church / ministry, I try to include the hyperlink for your convenience. The people who have filled our halls for the past seven months come from many different walks of life, many different faiths, many different age groups, and many different talents. And the truth is that we are happy to see them all. It brings us great joy and causes us to praise our Father when we realize the sheer amount of talent and energy that He has gathered here. We have had more than two dozen different religious groups attend our worship services. No one group would be enough to get the work accomplished here on the Coast. We need every church, every organization (COC Disaster Relief, COC Disaster Response Team, IDES, Hope Missions, Teen Missions, Open Churches.com, etc.), and every pair of hands possible to get the job done. If we depended only on Churches of Christ, we would be blessed to get to meet lots of marvelous people, but there wouldn't be enough to do what needs to be done. The churches associated with the Restoration Movement (Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and even a couple of Disciples of Christ churches) have by and large provided the greatest percentage of the workforce. And this is how it should be. Recognizing Christian Church people as brothers and sisters is difficult for some. I recognize this, but I do not know how to fix it. Our overall goal is to bring glory to the Father by serving others and giving to those who cannot help themselves. When we gather to worship, we call upon people to pray. I do not interview them nor give them a questionaire to fill out. We just pray. Some of our Christian Church brothers have preached for us, and done a very effective job of proclaiming the good news about Jesus - the same gospel I have been preaching for nearly twenty-five years! Now here is where we get to tightropes and fences. Some feel that they cannot help us if we do not know the background of every person who prays, or if every speaker is not from an acappella congregation. We really have only a few choices. We can walk tightropes, hoping not to offend anyone, tiptoeing this way and that, so that the help will continue to come. In so doing, we build fences that God has not built, and keep at arms length those who were born into His family exactly as we were. How can God bless us when we shut out our own spiritual family? I choose to think that we should do what is right, recognize those born again by water and Spirit, and simply love and pray for those who feel that their service is contingent upon doctrinal agreement. In the past few weeks I have had some discussions with brothers who feel that they cannot offer help to our effort if we embrace our brothers in the Christian church. I love the brothers who raise these concerns. I only know them through their dedicated service since Katrina hit our shores. I know them to be honest men of great conviction. I would defend them as men who love God and His church. But shall I walk a tightrope and build fences so that they will continue to help? I can not do so, in good conscience. And, apparently, they can not participate in good conscience. I wonder when service in the Kingdom grew strings? Most of the people we are serving are not Christians of any type. Is it OK to feed and help those outside the Lord, but not permissible to listen to someone who is born again bring a message from Scripture? I recognize that by writing about this, we may lose some other helpers along the way. When you wake up one morning and everything you own is in the mud, walking tightropes and building fences is just not a priority any more. Then again, if we have only received help because we walked tightropes and built fences, what have we really accomplished? Our community is wide open to the Gospel today because we did not shut the Kingdom's door in their face. Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, and others come and sit in our worship services each week. They express their joy at hearing about Jesus. They are treated with kindness and respect, as God's creatures deserve. They are taught about following the Lord and the need of every accountable person to be immersed to receive forgiveness. Several have yielded to the Gospel. I believe that as long as we are an open door come-as-you-are kind of church, many more will yield to the Good News. In the adventure of recovering from the greatest natural disaster to ever hit the Unites States of America, I've also been on an adventure of faith. I've learned a lot about my brothers and sisters in the Christian Church. Not a one of them has asked me to start using an instrument. Not a single one has offered a speck of criticism about our acappella worship. They are not evil, nor are they our enemies. My brothers and sisters came to town to help us out. I feel blessed. This is not an attack on anyone, simply a recognition that in all of our feeble attempts to be God's people there are going to be times when we fail, and times when we succeed. It is very possible that different groups of people will regard us differently in those terms. Thank God for His mercy and grace! May we all escape the tightropes and tear down the fences in the name of Christ!