The NY Times has posted a recent article about a child molester, recently released from prison, who is seeking to join a congregation in Carlsbad, California.
How sad that this is even up for debate. I don’t have kids, so I can’t imagine the feelings parents must have about this, but seriously: this is the church. This is the body of which Christ is the head, and people are arguing over whether certain people have the right to be members.
I wonder if they had this argument the first time a soldier, recently returned from the Middle East, tried to place membership. Did they question his right to belong, based on things he had done in his past? What about those who are greedy, who are racist, who are fill-in-the-blank.
The church is not a country club, and who are we to start denying entry into Christ’s body?
April 13, 2007 at 11:10 am
I share your frustration, but I also recognize that while it may not be a good idea to bar him from coming to church, it would be a good idea to keep him out of doing children’s ministry. If we were to have a theology on tap session at a local bar, I would probably not invite the alcoholic from church to join us. There’s a fine line here between who people are essentially and who people become volitionally (i.e., a GLBT person vs. a child molester, even though people often lump them together). So I see no reason to deny entry to church, but I also see no reason for the church to be naive about the inherent risks involved for that person and for the kids within their community.
April 13, 2007 at 11:11 am
then again, Paul used to kill Christians and look where he ended up in the Christian pantheon.
April 13, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I knew of a guy who was a church employee, a very active volunteer in the youth group of his son and daughter, and frequent sports team coach and Christian school volunteer. When the FBI showed up at his church office to confiscate his computer, his life was thrown into a tailspin.
Apparently, he had been chatting inappropriately with a “13 year old” girl, who was really an FBI agent in disguise. This was before “To Catch a Predator”, when the FBI did their own investigative work. When he actually called the girl, setting up a meeting, the FBI showed up.
He was forced to resign from the church, stop volunteering with the youth group, stop coaching, and move from his house which was right across the street from the Christian school. But, he still remained at the church. The leaders counseled him. He publicly repented, and the church gathered around him to help save his marriage, his family, and his life.
He will never be completely trusted again at this church, but he will always be welcome.
May 7, 2007 at 5:20 am
People have been denying others the right to worship for as long as people have worshipped. If this is your first experience with doctrine being different than practice, I honestly doubt you’ve known many religious people.