Not a Part of Our Mission!

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A troubling trend has developed among churches in the past few years. The first I heard of it was when a representative of the congregation that ran the intergenerational day care center where my wife worked decided that little children and seniors were "no longer a part of our mission". They said it with a straight face and no shame!

In this area several church day care centers have been shut down because church boards reviewed their mission statements and decided that little children were no longer a part of their mission - or at least taking care of them for more than an hour on Sundays was no longer a part of their mission.

Everything is about funding these days. It's no accident that many nonprofits and churches are shifting their missions to more lucrative projects. Children and seniors are too expensive because in today's litigious society, they are too expensive to insure. Church and nonprofit boards add up the cost of programs for little ones and the elderly (not cheap by any means), plus the outrageous insurance costs and the potential cost of Rodney D. Young or Roberts & Roberts suing your congregation right out of their nice new sanctuary and family life center and they come to the conclusion that a shift of mission priorities is in order.

It's a shame, but fear of lawsuits and an unwillingness to risk financial losses is reducing services for our most vulnerable citizens - the ones the Bible specifically mentioned that Christians should take care of first and above all!

I we all interpret our duty as Christians and choose our missions in life accordingly.

Scripture mentions "men's hearts failing them for fear" at the end of time. I see that happening. Ironically enough, our hearts are failing us, not for fear of demons or tyrants, huns or barbarians, but for fear of lawyers.

But no one ever said the devil wasn't subtle. Know what all that fear that means?

Guess who's coming back, Planet Earth......

Just one man's fervent hope,

Tom King