To Be or Not to Be . . .

This is probably one of my most serious blog posts. And, I am probably more afraid of what people might say than I have been in a long time. But, here goes. . .

This morning, like every first and third Friday mornings, we had a before school breakfast for our teens. Cutting right to the chase, what I want to talk about happened after breakfast. As most of you know, I serve at Richfield Mennonite Church,an Independant NONDENOMIHATIONAL church in a small rural town in PA - very close to what some call "Amish Country". Well, after breakfast we take kids to school . . . in a BLACK church van we have. (The van was bought for a great price, not the color, I might add). Usually the kids get dropped off where they have to walk to the school. However, it rained today. So the kids wanted dropped off in front of the school; well most of the kids. There was at least one who was kind of ashamed to be seen getting out of a black van because "everyone would think he was Amish."

Now this kid comes to church with his grandmother and is kind of shy, etc. but this was a big deal to him. For me and bunch of other adults, this would be no big deal, but to this kid and many others I could talk about, the stigma of being something that he/they wasn't/weren't made an impression. I, being the social butterfly could talk my way through it. But, to many, this wasn't something they wanted to deal with.

My question would be, when does the name of a church be a hindrence to ministering to and reaching out to people of all ages. I could talk on both sides for a very long time, but I am interested in your thoughts. Let's dialog.