The church I pastor, The Shepherd’s Fellowship is having a special event on October 22, 2011 called “A Night at Matthew’s”. This is going to be a different type of event for us but will be filled with live music, catered food, fund raising to help “Bridges out of Poverty” and a wine tasting. Yes, that’s right…..a wine tasting.
We are aware that while many will not even think twice about this, that some will have a concern with a church having any event that has any alcohol associated with it. I can understand that concern so I wanted to take a moment and explain our thoughts. That does not mean I expect everyone to agree with me but it is my attempt to communicate.
We have found that most of our outreach in the past has been to people who are in crisis situations. This year, we are trying to add outreaches to people in other types of situations while keeping the other efforts.
In the area of those who are moving out of crisis situations to be able to stand on their own, we had a coupon class night last week to help people learn skills to stretch their dollars which was a great night.We are currently planning other events to continue these efforts.
In the area of reaching out to people who are middle or upper middle class, we looked at where these folks met to seek ideas for outreach. One thing we found was people enjoying dinners happening at Shamrock Vineyards. As I talked to the owners there, I realized we had a real chance to make friendships with people we do not know yet while also raising funds to help people moving out of the crisis mode to being self sufficient. (The Shepherd’s Fellowship will not be profiting financially from the ticket sales from this event)
Someone with a concern may say “That’s great but you shouldn’t lower your values to reach out to new people.” True. In this case, we do not believe we are.
The Scripture is clear that drunkenness is a sin and we do not stand for or advocate drunkeness.
The Scripture is clear that anything we become addicted to that leads us to bondage is not of God including alcoholism. Moderation is key in this area as much as eating is to gluttony.
The Scripture does not speak out against alcohol in moderation (that I have found). Actually, it speaks of social drink (as Jesus changed the water to wine at a wedding) or wine for health (as Timothy was encouraged by Paul to do) in a positive light.
In other words, it’s not an easy topic when it comes to social drinking. So what do we do when we feel led to hang out with people who do enjoy a good time that includes social drinking?
To me, I refer to Jesus’ example in Matthew 9. Jesus called a man by the name of Matthew to follow Him. The man, Matthew was a tax collector which (at that time) meant he was a cheat, betrayed his own people, and not cared for. His friend base would include a lot of people who wouldn’t feel comfortable at most churches.
After Matthew decided to follow Jesus, he had Jesus over for a party at his house. We assume the party was pretty edgy and worldly because the religious people got cranky and called Jesus out on it. Jesus response? These are the people I came for…
In the same way, this event is a time where we can follow where we feel God is leading us to do, to reach real people He loves, in real ways for our Lord, and in a way that we do not consider as sinful. If some people are not happy with that, we are ok with that as we follow Christ’s example.
If you still do not agree with me on this, that’s obviously ok. You are free to either communicate with me more or pray for me. I appreciate both if done in love and truth.
Again, many will not be concerned and understand what I share here. We invite you to come out and join the event!
– The local band out of Mansfield, “8:28” will be doing an acoustic set of old, family friendly classics and Christian music.
– It’s going to be great food catered in special for the event.
– Lot’s of fun as we get to know each other!
– Raising monies to support the “Bridges Out of Poverty” program in Marion County that helps people in tangible ways.
For more information on the event, visit here….
I hope I get to meet you there! Blessings!
If you have thoughts or want to be part of the discussion, please go to the original post www.tomhypes.com….. You are invited to the conversation but for ease, I won’t be moderating this post….
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