Inviting people with tattoos to church functions, socials, etc.

[HondurasKeiser]

Related.
Another topic with interesting discussion.

2024:

I'll be honest, I haven't been super active online as of late and I did not read through this thread. But one fact comes to mind regarding this topic: Conservative Anabaptists are not interested in "reaching out". They want to preserve what they have been protecting for decades. Beyond summer Bible Schools and such, I do not see much community outreach, at least in my area. We may have a "street preacher" or two, but that is beyond the norm.

Change my mind.

Attend the next Church Planters Forum & Retreat. You might be surprised at how many individuals and families from within CA churches are interested in reaching out.

KMF seems very keen on reaching out. As does Barnhart’s church (I forget their affiliation).

[R7ehr]

steve-in-kville wrote: ↑
I'll be honest, I haven't been super active online as of late and I did not read through this thread. But one fact comes to mind regarding this topic: Conservative Anabaptists are not interested in "reaching out". They want to preserve what they have been protecting for decades. Beyond summer Bible Schools and such, I do not see much community outreach, at least in my area. We may have a "street preacher" or two, but that is beyond the norm.

Change my mind.

I don’t know what qualifies as “Conservative Anabaptist” or “reaching out” to you. I did happen to meet an elderly man in town this week by complete chance, who I invited to church. He showed up, and ate with us. My daughter is planning on making him a bunch of canned soup to eat this winter. He asked if she would be interested in doing it for him for pay, if he supplied the jars.

But is this a “win”? Will he soon be greeting with a holy kiss and wearing a plain suit and white shirt to church? Statistically unlikely.
But unlike the Baptist, I don’t measure success straight line like that. If he never joins my church, or never shows up again, I feel like I have faithfully done my part. Maybe I didn’t plant. Maybe I didn’t harvest. But I can water.

Edit: Where did this comment come from? I don’t see the original post in this thread anywhere, just the quote.

[barnhart]

I can see some truth in both the viewpoints of Steve in K-ville and GaryK. Both things are happening.

[Jeff Altweg]

Depends what we expect , is what we get ....I've sat in plain churches where if a visitor said "Amen" .to a preacher's point, about all the children under about 12 years old , would openly swivel and gawk at the person, and I've been in Church , where many wear Walmart clothes , even jeans with the knees torn out , and of course tattoos galore, which group would be more like Jesus , and which group would be a lot like the Pharisees .....

[R7ehr]

I’ve never lived in any community east of the Rockies. But it is my perspective from out west, where few churches are more conservative than us, that liberal, ex-conservative Mennonites have even less interest in reaching out the the world - unless, that is, we mean reaching out for the things of the world.
So comments such as Steve’s make me feel a little chippy and bristly.
Along with comments from my ex-Baptist friend who only ever asks about numbers of converts wearing plain suits, as if that is the sole determining measure of success. Meanwhile, he doesn’t have any home church himself, and has a fractious relationship with his ex-wife and on and on.

I get weary and wary of people making Jeff Altwig and Steve’s Pharasee type comments. Having not seen what they’ve seen, I cannot say they are completely wrong. Maybe they are right. But I can say that I feel included in those comments, and don’t love it, and it is not what I see.

[temporal1]

steve-in-kville wrote: ↑
I'll be honest, I haven't been super active online as of late and I did not read through this thread. But one fact comes to mind regarding this topic: Conservative Anabaptists are not interested in "reaching out". They want to preserve what they have been protecting for decades. Beyond summer Bible Schools and such, I do not see much community outreach, at least in my area. We may have a "street preacher" or two, but that is beyond the norm.

Change my mind.

I don’t know what qualifies as “Conservative Anabaptist” or “reaching out” to you. I did happen to meet an elderly man in town this week by complete chance, who I invited to church. He showed up, and ate with us. My daughter is planning on making him a bunch of canned soup to eat this winter. He asked if she would be interested in doing it for him for pay, if he supplied the jars.

But is this a “win”? Will he soon be greeting with a holy kiss and wearing a plain suit and white shirt to church? Statistically unlikely.
But unlike the Baptist, I don’t measure success straight line like that. If he never joins my church, or never shows up again, I feel like I have faithfully done my part. Maybe I didn’t plant. Maybe I didn’t harvest. But I can water.

Edit: Where did this comment come from? I don’t see the original post in this thread anywhere, just the quote.

2024 / P.7 / “Why have the Anabaptists FAILED at Reaching the Masses”
https://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.ph ... 4&start=60

On MD, when new members were invited to share about themselves in their initial introductions, with their posts open to response from members, it was quite evident, “finding faith and truth” are more often than not “straight lines”. Some would share a little, some quite a lot, some arrived with specific questions, which might be discussed for pages.

i miss those interactions.
i was encouraged at how often responses would be similar from members - even with mixed-experience members, as continues now.
i recall, especially, a few young women wanting advice wrt their family and church interactions. they received practical, helpful answers.

example question, “i’m attending a church or fellowship, my husband doesn’t. how do i deal with this?”

these are honest questions that have answers in scriptures; then, how to live one’s faith IRL, by those successfully doing it.
who better to ask for help with new or growing faith than those who are living it?

i miss all that.
Mrs Nisly’s intro thread never took off to compare with the MD method.
https://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php?t=17

new members keep arriving.
very much like they ever did over the years. it’s pretty wonderful.

i have no suggestions or requests. just remembering. wondering about others’ thoughts.

[JohnH]

I can see some truth in both the viewpoints of Steve in K-ville and GaryK. Both things are happening.

Steve’s viewpoint seems to be one I would share about regions like Lancaster / Myerstown, Holmes Co. Ohio - the “strongholds”. For whatever reason, the plain people in these big settlements simply don’t reach out much.

Go to a place where there’s just 1 or 2 plain churches in a 100 mile radius and you’ll see far more reaching out.

I lived in a plain community (and had no idea I did) for years. Nobody ever reached out to me, liberal or otherwise.

[Grace]

steve-in-kville wrote: ↑
I'll be honest, I haven't been super active online as of late and I did not read through this thread. But one fact comes to mind regarding this topic: Conservative Anabaptists are not interested in "reaching out". They want to preserve what they have been protecting for decades. Beyond summer Bible Schools and such, I do not see much community outreach, at least in my area. We may have a "street preacher" or two, but that is beyond the norm.

Change my mind.

I don’t know what qualifies as “Conservative Anabaptist” or “reaching out” to you. I did happen to meet an elderly man in town this week by complete chance, who I invited to church. He showed up, and ate with us. My daughter is planning on making him a bunch of canned soup to eat this winter. He asked if she would be interested in doing it for him for pay, if he supplied the jars.

But is this a “win”? Will he soon be greeting with a holy kiss and wearing a plain suit and white shirt to church? Statistically unlikely.
But unlike the Baptist, I don’t measure success straight line like that. If he never joins my church, or never shows up again, I feel like I have faithfully done my part. Maybe I didn’t plant. Maybe I didn’t harvest. But I can water.

Edit: Where did this comment come from? I don’t see the original post in this thread anywhere, just the quote.

Making canned soup for an elderly man in town is a wonderful way to reach out and to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Many years ago, we knew a young father who was struggling, because his wife left him and their three young children. He lost his job because he couldn't find childcare for his three children and had to stay home with them. The church we were attending had a community benevolence fund, and the church paid his heating oil for several month until he got things straightened out and found childcare. He came to our church for quite a time after that. He was raised Catholic and was confused that we had so many "priests" sitting up front. He thought all the men who wore plain suits were "priests". He also said his wife was a slut because she didn't know what holy water was when he married her. At that time, I didn't know what holy water was either, but I certainly wasn't going to tell him that, lest I was deemed the same as his wife.

[barnhart]

I’ve never lived in any community east of the Rockies. But it is my perspective from out west, where few churches are more conservative than us, that liberal, ex-conservative Mennonites have even less interest in reaching out the the world - unless, that is, we mean reaching out for the things of the world.
So comments such as Steve’s make me feel a little chippy and bristly.
Along with comments from my ex-Baptist friend who only ever asks about numbers of converts wearing plain suits, as if that is the sole determining measure of success. Meanwhile, he doesn’t have any home church himself, and has a fractious relationship with his ex-wife and on and on.

I get weary and wary of people making Jeff Altwig and Steve’s Pharasee type comments. Having not seen what they’ve seen, I cannot say they are completely wrong. Maybe they are right. But I can say that I feel included in those comments, and don’t love it, and it is not what I see.

Maybe Steve is only speaking from personal observation. Maybe he has never been west of the Rockies.

[Bootstrap]

Two things leap out at me in this thread.

1. Most of us would not hold tattoos against a seeker. People have pasts. Some of their pasts may be visible on their skin today. I wouldn't encourage believers to get tattoos, but I would encourage believers to not judge and to accept the Samaritan woman at the well.
2. Some of the posts make broad generalizations about how some other group might react, whether some other group even cares about evangelism, etc. I think it's easy to try to justify your own group by making creating negative stereotypes about other groups, and I don't think that's healthy.

There's a lot of wisdom about this in Galatians 6:

6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. 5 For each person will have to carry his own load.

I think verses 1-2 speak to my first point. I think verses 2-5 speak to my second point. If we live accordingly, we will not be Pharisees.