Santa, Condoms and other "sins" of ministry

  Being in Christian ministry over the last 11 years has been an interesting journey. I remember reading all the great books on the topic when i first started wanting to soak in all the knowledge of those who had gone before me. I remember listening intently to preachers and teachers who talked about the subject and longing to meet the list of criteria for outreach to the poor and evangelising to the "marginalized". I was so on fire for Jesus and wanted to be so careful to not disappoint him, but in secret I was truly afraid of this new community of people who seemed to really know what God wanted and were eager to give me guidelines on the best way to "draw people to the Lord" "reach out to the poor". I realized pretty quickly that although some of the advice I heard and read about worked but alot of it didn't. I soon realized that some of the "advise" was merely a way of separating myself from the community I used to be apart of myself and instead of drawing people to Jesus I was really drawing a line in the sand between us with a silent message of "if you come over hear and do all the right things Jesus can save you" " If you stop doing all those unholy things that God hates then he will love you" I longed for people to meet the Jesus I met a few weeks earlier but that Jesus started to fade away in a lot of rules that I didn't remember hearing the day I welcomed Jesus into my heart. He said "I love you, come follow me" that's it, that's all and I was determined to walk with people and introduce them to my new friend, my savior who didn't wait until I was doing anything right in fact met me right in the middle of all the mess.

Over the years the way I have chosen to reach out to people has come in to question. Here are just a few of my Favorite "sins of ministry";

1. PROBLEM: Not checking I.D and proof of income when people come to our free clothing store. Apparently the problem with this practice is that I am not making sure its only REALLY poor people who come to the ministry-what if someone who can really afford a pair of pants comes in there and takes it?!?! What if we are being taken advantage of?! What if there will be nothing left for those REALLY poor people who we re trying to minister to and tell them about Jesus!?!?!

 First of all we aren't giving away free clothing just so those REALLY poor people have a pair of pants to wear, if that's what you think we are doing then I understand your frustration. Its important to provide for the tangible needs of those in poverty  BUT if you have never been in a situation yourself of having to go into a food bank or clothing bank it is so much more than a means to an end it is a part of how you measure yourself based on how you are treated when you are there. Its about having to say out loud to one more person " I am poor enough for your free stuff" " I am here again this month because my situation hasn't changed"  We wanted people, anyone to come to shop for clothing and choose what they wanted, whenever they needed to, and to be free to have one place in their life where why they were there didn't matter but simply how can we help and what are your ideas for making this resource a benefit to others. Oh and those rich people who come and take even though they can afford it, we love them too and realize that sometimes their needs are much greater than our friends who are lacking in material needs. We hope that everyone who comes asks the same questions though," what is this place and why are you here?" so both can hear about Jesus for the first time, be reintroduced again or share their journey with Jesus with all of us. P.S God knows what we need, so an extra pair of pants leaving isn't going to throw off His game.

2. PROBLEM : Santa. Yes I said it Santa. That evil man in the red suit who steals the joy of Christmas from Jesus......of course I am kidding but you would be surprised how upset Christians get when you tell them that you are offering free pictures with Santa to people at Christmastime at a Christian Ministry! Well we do and we have been doing it every year for the last 5 years in partnership with an amazing Photographer,and one of our friends who owns a red suit and has the belly to fill it. I know this may come as a shock to you but the love of Jesus can still be found there. Its found in the heart of the photographer who quietly donates her time and equipment to spend the day shooting, pays for the prints that go to the individuals and families and even takes the time to personalize a folder for the photo because she believes it should look just as great as the one you  pay for at the mall. Its found in the community of people who forget about picture day and then run around letting all their neighbours know the free Santa pictures are today because they want to share with the community,its even in the grumpy old guy who happens to own the red suit because its his way of giving back to the mission every year and feels like he is doing something good. Its in watching people in tears thanking us for something they just cant squeeze into their budget at an already difficult time and ask the familiar question of "why do you guys do this for free? You could take a little bit of money even to help raise funds for this place." Getting to talk to them about a Gods love that is free that doesn't make sense either is a really great conversation. Jesus finds his way even through the evil guy in the red suit.

3: PROBLEM :Condoms.This is not a typo. One of the very first push-backs I got on this was in year one of the store opening up and having an older lady stand outside the doors just watching me, at least I thought thats what she was doing, she was really staring at the bowl of free condoms we have on the desk. After about 10 minutes she stepped into the store and said "are you a Christian?" I said " I try to be" She said "is this a Christian organization?" I said " I think so" She grabbed the bowl and shook it and said " you are not a Christian with this on your desk" and with that she angrily walked away. I was too busy to follow her but that was probably a good thing since it was early in my walk with Jesus and I most likely wouldn't have responded appropriately. Our ministry is located at the corner of Barton and Emerald st in Hamilton. We have a large concentration of woman and some men who are  risking their lives in the sex trade. They were there before we put the condoms on the desk, the condoms didn't introduce them to prostitution or entice them to enter it. The condoms are there because we value their life as much as anyone else's and more than that we value the lives of those men who come from outside the city to "purchase" sex and we also value the lives of the wives of these men who are often unsuspecting victims in the choices their husbands make. Some of these men are Christians, broken people, just like the rest of us but certainly not "dirty men from the underbelly of the city" they are coming from the backyards and churches of many who question our distribution of condoms at the mission. I believe part of my job as a believer is to allow God to work in me to show his love and introduce them to Jesus, I would like for there to be time to do that, I would like for my friends to not get so sick with a disease they will die of before we get that chance.

 Just this past weekend I was reminded how Jesus can work even through condoms on the desk. Nine years ago I would watch a woman strung out on drugs across the street from the mission sell her self day after day. One day she walked by and saw that we had condoms so she grabbed some and swore at me and left. She kept coming back for condoms and eventually stepped in further to grab a coffee and a cookie and would swear at us and leave. Then eventually she stepped in even further to get a fresh set of clothes and hygiene products and yell at us some more. When we wouldn't stop loving her she started to let us into her life, time went on, she taught us alot , hopefully we did that too and she got herself clean with the help of other Jesus loving people and was Baptized on Sunday into the family of God. She is clean now and doesn't work the streets but she does volunteer with us and part of her ministry is letting her friends from the street know about a place that loves them because Jesus loved them first,   and inviting them in with the lure of condoms to protect them physically, coffee and snack to fill their stomachs and a place to get to know this Jesus who loves them right now, where they are in the middle of their mess because that's where he found her.

God created the whole freaking universe. He has worked though imperfection since the day he created the earth and He is more powerful than any of our list of rules and laws of ministry. My God can work through the many "sins of ministry" I will continue to commit for many years to come.