Do you think it is right for a congregation to go door-knocking while neglecting to help its needy members?
Question:
I have a question concerning our church. No church of Christ I have ever attended has done this.
I have been disabled and been divorced, biblically, for a long time. No boyfriends and very poor. I got into a bind and could not pay my light bill. I was also asked to move because my landlord died and they wanted to sell the property.
None of my family is here and none will help me anyway. Our preacher told me to call the elders, which I did and I never got an answer or offer of help. One wife almost hung up on me and was very rude when I asked to speak to the elder.
I am physically unable to work and use a motorized wheelchair. Not even the men in the church would help me fix my truck when it broke down.
I was raising my grandchildren, my daughter started a lot of trouble and CPS took them away. No one even stood up for my character!
But this is what the church started doing here which to me is as bad as the Jehovah's Witnesses. They started making flyers and knocking on people's doors! I witness to friends and others who wish to discuss the Lord with me, but I do not push myself on anyone.
I find it strange that they would turn their back on me, but go out into the community to try to get members. I don't recall Jesus going into anyone's home unless invited.
What is your take on this?
Answer:
I avoid answering questions such as yours because I only have one side being presented. It is improper to make judgments about other people when it is presented in this fashion. "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?" (Judges 4:11-12). In general, I know it is much easier to criticize than to make yourself a part of a local effort.
What I do notice is that you are letting your bitterness over your own situation improperly color your judgment. There is nothing unscriptural about a congregation reaching out to a community by knocking on people's doors. The fact that some denominations also do it doesn't mean it is wrong. Some denominations also sing in their worship, but that doesn't make singing wrong. Nor is knocking on neighbor's doors and asking them to come to church or asking them if they would like to study the Bible with you being pushy. You can't find out the answer to a question unless you ask. You might as well call Paul "pushy" because he preached in the marketplaces (Acts 17:17) where people didn't have much choice but to hear him talk as they were shopping.
It is a congregation's duty to reach out to the lost with the gospel (I Thessalonians 1:8). Each congregation ought to employ all the means available to them to fulfill that command.
Your situation doesn't fall under a congregation's obligations. It would be the duty of the members there, individually to help you handle your problems (Galatians 6:10). Why it is not being done, I don't know.
