Heart Reflections Live

I've been pondering on this a lot lately, since my last post. Coming from a local pioneering family, I've often read about (I love History!) how communities were established, often with the Church first, & then how everyone worked together to build schools, hospitals & Halls etc.

Although more people were church-goers in those days, I think it's a fallacy to believe that communities were "More Christian back then." There has always been that rougher edge of society, even in the good old days. What I believe is missing as a whole these days, is Christian involvement & influence in the civic arena.

A lot of townsfolk, here at least, don't seem to hear a lot of churches "doing anything" in the community. Of course, there's the Salvation Army, the Soup Kitchen, & one of the bigger local churches made news the last couple of years for doing a makeover on a rather run-down State school in the area. I thought this last one was great, as it showed Christians donating time, money & talent to bless the local community. And it was noticed! Many government funded institutions are crying out for money & resources here in Australia, maybe there's a real idea here to lift the public profile of the Church, beyond a "Bless Me Club", which sadly is how many unbelievers see us.

One idea I've been thinking of lately, is concerning hospitals... As the wife of a man , who has a rare heart condition (see my Valentine's post for details), I've spent many a time waiting
around hospitals with young children, during some very anxious times & while experience has taught me to be prepared, I can tell you there is a severe lack of children's reading material in decent condition in all hospital waiting areas. Maybe the churches could combine for a new hospital book & toy drive- or state school library book drive- we could even use the opportunity to choose some good Christian material to bless the community with.

Maybe too, it's time we Christians rethought about joining some community based fundraising organizations, providing their agenda doesn't go against our beliefs, of course. This would create more opportunities for friendship evangelism, as well as giving back to our communities.

I often feel ashamed when I think that many of our forebears had 6 or more children, went faithfully to Church, fundraised with home-cooking for that plus a few other community ventures- is our society becoming more Me-Centred or what!

These are just some of the things I've been reflecting on lately. Of course none of these things are a substitute for preaching the pure gospel of Christ, living in the light & loving our neighbour-just a few more thoughts on old-fashioned living...

Labels: Church History, communities, fund-raising