Feedback... Stop blaming the church

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for their feedback on yesterday's blog... It caused such a furore! As they say, if you want to get people passionate, throw a little religion or politics in the mix... lol!
But the conversation actually took a different spin. My point was that individuals should take responsibility for their actions and stop blaming others. My commentators however took it to another level - they felt that the church only takes from poor people and gives no significant benefits back to society. Because I am of a contrary opinion, I thought it would be prudent to make some comments...
1. There are hypocrites in the church as there are in almost every other sphere of life
2. There are individuals who go into the Church because of what they can get out of it. In fact, many of these church leaders live a better quality of life than some of their members.
3. Equally however, there are individuals whose main intent for going into the Church is service to God and man. These individuals go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that their parishioners/members are assisted in every aspect of their life.
4. There is hardly a school in Jamaica that is not aligned to a church. This is not because the church gives financial benefits to the school but it acts a moral compass which guides the Teachers who are molding our children's lives.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that if the church is doing something, money is insignificant and 'the Lord will provide' therefore they should walk blindly into situations. Friends, whenever a church has a crusade for example (this is what is defined as Missions) there are costs associated with it. Let me give you a breakdown;
- Rental of the tent
- Electricity
- Rental of Chairs
- Accommodation & stipend for visiting pastors
- Rental of Port-a-potties
- Setting up of the infrastructure
- Transportation & Labour costs
- Refreshments
Imagine if this crusade is for a week or two - Rental of the venue, permits to host the event... it costs whole heap a money!!! And bear in mind, this is a core duty of the church - they MUST evangelize!

Then there are the visits to the shut-ins, senior citizens and children's homes, they cannot go with empty hands - 'Praise the Lord' cannot full belly so there has to be provisions for these homes. There are the educational exploits. Skills training for interested persons - alliances which are created through organizations such as HEART and USAID.

Jobs are provided through the church. The office staff - administrators, anxillary, kitchen staff, security & drivers.

As we always say, give credit where it is due. The church does a number of outreach programmes. Persons are benefitting. I maintain that maybe what they need is a public relations arms to toot their horns!!!