What my students teach me!

Right now I am teaching two classes online: Ministry in Marriage and Motherhood and Writing to Inspire – a nonfiction writing class.  In the Ministry class, though both are really about ministry, we have been talking about single moms, their needs and how the church could and should minister to them.  In the Nonfiction class, we have been talking about writing profiles or interview pieces, and some of my students have chosen to interview people who have had to overcome painful issues, like abuse, divorce or other kinds of loss.

My students, good Christian men and women, have experienced some horrific trials, and they know whereof they are speaking, and the question I asked them, I am asking you: what did and what should the church do to minister to these population groups? According to America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2010: 69.4% of American children live with both parents.  That means over 30 percent do not.  Where are all those single parents and their children in our churches and what are we doing to minister to them? 

James 1:27 says this: Religion that is pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 3: 10 -11says this, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” So what does that look like in the Church?

I know that most of my readers are women.  I know also that women are to help men.  I know that men don’t think a lot about these things because we women were created to be nurturers, and we see the needs of hurting people, many times, before men do.  I know also that our church leadership is male, so??? It is our responsibility to encourage them to do something about these empty places in our church, the ones that should be filled with single parents, children from single parent homes, parents and children dealing with disability issues, and just generally hurting people.

 So we need to come up with some solutions to give to the men, some ideas of ways to minister to these populations, to do more than guilt trip them.  What about creating a team to address the needs of the disabled in our church?  The American Disabilities Act requires this giving of equal opportunities, but I haven’t seen much evidence of effort in our churches, other than to build a ramp or install an elevator.  What about doing some training in the care of disabled children, for regular nursery workers, Sunday School teachers  or youth workers? What about having a few people really trained to go alongside the needy child, like the public school does? I think they are called “wraps,” an aid who accompanies the child.  Can you imagine what this would do for the parent(s) of disabled children, showing them love and giving them a few moments of freedom to worship, learn and fellowship?

 What about creating a group of people, perhaps to include teenagers, who would minister to single moms and widows, raking leaves, cleaning out the gutters, shoveling snow, winterizing the house or car?  Perhaps a church could offer a weekend class on how to minister to this population.  It’s not that I think the church chose to ignore these people, they just haven’t thought about it or haven’t had leaders who thought about it.  SO maybe we could be part of the solutions.

 

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