It's worse here. I haven't been to a Church building for a year.
It's been about three years for me.
I was actually bullied in Church.
Why does that not surprise me? Probably because we have imperfect people being led by professional preachers who think their only job is to preach in buildings where religious people hide from the real world.
Went into that Church without friends and came out with out friends.
One of the most difficult places to make friends is in church.
So they changed to a Church where they could hide.
The church is a great place to hide since no one ever talks to you. After all, only one person is allowed to talk!
Went into that Church without friends and came out with out friends.
In defense of the people in your church, there is no time to make friends. After a 15-minute worship session and 45-minute sermon, you have exactly 20 seconds to exit the building, just so you are not the last one out.
The next church was a little better, but it split and fell apart.
More churches are doing that these days.
Then back to the Church I got bullied in.
Yikes, what made you go back there?
I wonder what you think of the idea of infiltrating this church of yours. You could get back at these bullies by showing love to others where no one else will.
For example, my nine-year-old son and I invited ourselves to a church we had not been to since he was a toddler. We waltzed right in as if we were heirs to the Kingdom of God or something.
It was an unusual layout of the building. Just before you reached the sanctuary's doors, there was a large room with tables and a buffet. This area is where we would have food after the sermon, and since the congregation was mostly upper-middle-class, the church could afford to make the meal free of charge every Sunday.
During the service, I couldn't stop thinking about this older, scraggly-looking man sitting at one of the tables by himself. It was quite obvious he was very poor-- probably homeless-- and he was probably waiting for the sermon to end so he could get a free meal. Since the sermon was not resonating with either of us, I motioned for my son to follow me out of the sanctuary.
We sat down next to the homeless guy and introduced ourselves. His truthfulness was refreshing as he explained he was only there to get a meal he had not had for a while.
I could tell immediately that the church staff was highly bothered by our friendliness toward this man. After all, they were probably secretly praying under their breaths that this guy would just go away.
But the most amazing thing happened the following week. Instead of this man sitting by himself, an elder I have known for years was sitting next to him, carrying on a conversation as if they were best buds.
Don't let your church get in the way of your working for the Kingdom of God. March in next Sunday like you own the place and begin your ministry. Find someone who is even more kicked to the curb than you and offer to pray with them. Do what your pastor will never do and disciple them one-on-one, even if they are older than you!
If the higher-ups don't like it, tough! Make them kick you out. The pastors, elders, deacons, and assistant pastors probably don't care anyway if they allow bullying in the church. Get back at them by making them look bad. You do that by ministering to the people they refuse to minister to. This is your chance to be a rebel, just like Jesus!
