***Author’s Note: Some people will just read the title of this post without reading the content and then either think I’m mean or grammatically challenged***
I cannot remember the first time I saw the church sign posted above but I immediately knew what they meant – We love to help people that are hurting.
However, I also thought about, technically, what it could be viewed as saying – We love to hurt people.
I do not believe most people start out with any real intention of hurting anyone but hurt and pain is something we have a lot of in this life.
We know people are hurt by individuals from all walks of life and it is certainly not an exclusive church issue but let’s be honest, church hurt is different than any other type of pain.
We expect, as we should, more from church folks and when those people hurt us it does not go away overnight and for some it never goes away.
While we do not condone purposely trying to hurt people, we also must recognize that people, even church people, are imperfect and will make mistakes and need forgiveness.
I have heard another quote that makes sense in these situations – Hurt people hurt people.
Everyone is fighting a battle that no ones else knows about and unfortunately sometimes innocent bystanders are caught in the crossfire.
Does that make it right?
No
Does it make it less painful?
No
Does that mean you should give up on God or church?
No
God still has a plan and purpose for your life and you should not give up on Him or church because of a bad experience or two.
Our church does our best to love people and help them become everything God wants for them to be.
Have we made mistakes?
Yes of course and I’m still currently breathing so I’ll make a few more too.
But overall our goal and purpose is to help introduce people to Jesus by showing them the love of God and telling them about the power to live a victorious life through the Holy Spirit.
So please be our guest sometime soon and experience what a church is like that genuinely “loves hurting people” in the right way.
In His Service,
Jarryd Raynes – Senior Pastor
Upper Room Church