Everyone Belongs (Part 3)

December 22, 2009

The last two weekends have been incredible to me. Two weeks ago we reached out to what some have called, ‘The Largest Unreached People Group In America”. I have seen estimates that say this group make up anywhere from 10-20% of the American population. These studies are all over the map. With my friends Shelley and Lewanda we have started reaching out to this demographic, ‘Families with Special Needs’. We have started respite events where parents can drop off their child with special needs and allow us to minister to them for a few hours.

I am no expert on this subject, but it appears to me that few things are more isolating than having a special needs child. Many of these families don’t feel like they belong anywhere. At our event a couple of weeks ago, many of these children sat on Santa’s knee for the first time. I’m not talking about 4 and 5 year olds, but 11 and 12 and 13 year olds. Going out in public can be a real challenge for these families. Going to church is almost impossible, because churches are not ready for them. We are trying to be.

And then there was our Hope For Christmas Party. We invited people from less fortunate communities around NW Atlanta. We provided food and Christmas presents to hundreds of families. There’s really no way to put this event into words. Christmas was provided to somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,500-4,000 kids, and more than 700 volunteers helped out.

This event requires a lot of organization and a lot of great volunteer leaders. For all of those volunteer’s, their mission was to look people in the eye and be a friend. The people that we serve are pilgrims on the journey just like us. We do not want people to feel like they are just a part of some matrix somewhere (the government does that for us). We want to communicate to them personally; ‘I want to be a friend to you’, ‘With me you are welcome’, and that God’s love is accepting and redeeming.

There are a lot of people in our society who feel isolated. They feel isolated by their own choices, or by circumstances that they had nothing to do with. For some reason the last place those people feel like they can come is the church. Those reasons have nothing to do with the building, the dress code, the style of worship, or whether or not the coffee is free. It has everything to do with the people inside.

The church should be the first place the isolated and the outcast come to. Christ-followers should be looking for these fellow travelers all day, every day. We should also be looking for them at our worship gatherings, and personally telling them of a loving God who desires to bring guidance and hope to their life. It’s not just the Pastor’s job.

Once there was a baby in a manger who invited the outcast to be the first to see him. As a man, those with physical afflictions were never overlooked by him. The guilt ridden prostitute, the crooked tax-collector, life-weary leper, and the young and wealthy all received the same invitation. In Him there is life and hope and 2nd chances available to everyone.

In Him ‘Everyone Belongs’,

Paul

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