I've got something rattling around in my head and I need some help to flesh it out. This post will be mostly stream of consciousness and will not draw a conclusion or give a "charge to change".
For a couple of years now I have had an idea of offering chaplaincy services to businesses as an outreach in conjunction with our Project Square Mile. I recognized that many who work in the businesses around here have no church home but still have needs. My thought was to offer hospital visits, prayer, wedding and funeral services, etc. and to offer them at no cost. My dream was that by being a friend to the employee, we would become a friend to the business owner.
I made my first tangible step this morning by offering my services as a chaplain to one of the businesses nearby. The reception was much as I expected. It was polite. I don't know if I will ever hear back. I don't know what my next step should be. I don't know what happens if someone calls when I am gone.
I want to hear what you think. Random ideas, insights, warnings, whatever. I just see an opportunity to be Christ to people who don't know him, don't like him, or who think that He doesn't like them. I'm not trying to recruit new members for my local church.
Talk to me.
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2 comments:
Well, I don't have many ideas to offer, but I do want to at least give a little encouraging feedback. I think it's a great idea! I would guess that the polite but probably dismissive reaction you got is typical from someone who feels like they are being sold something or being recruited to a place. This is obviously not your intention, as you've made clear in your post. Did you make that as clear in your phone call? If not, maybe you should. I also wonder how you could best communicate your offer to the employees without having to go through a supervisor or business owner? I can imagine some managers or business owners being hesitant to disseminate that type of information for fear of appearing to promote or favor a religious preference. Whether legitimate or not, this is a fear many have in the hyper-secular climate of a lot of today's workplaces. Whatever the obstacles, I think the idea seems a good one and clearly hatched out of the right motives. And who knows, you might be surprised to find the very person you spoke with calling sometime soon.
Randy,
I suffer from repeated failures of imagination: every day I overlook numbers of opportunities to serve people. It's exciting to hear that you're thinking - imagining - ways to serve your neighbor(s). It's something all of us should be doing.
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