Oppression or Opportunity?

Three years ago, the opportunity to move from the funeral home where we had been meeting for over a year to a public building was hatched from an agreement between two township trustees -- one just down the street from where we were meeting, the other a member of our little congregation. So that September of 2014 we began meeting a building belonging to the Center Township. Little did I know that by the end of the year I would be accepting a position as the new trustee's right hand man (or Chief Deputy as I am entitled.) When that came to pass however I offered for us to return to the funeral home to avoid any appearance of indiscretion. We even still had the keys to the old place. But we were encouraged to stay, and in the spring when the new leadership converted the space into a community service building, we became official occupants along with several other non-profit organizations. We probably still should have been looking for somewhere else to meet, but as all churches do, we got comfortable.

A couple of months ago, I began to hear rumors that someone was trying to cause problems for my boss (and brother and friend) and for the Township Board because they were allowing a religious group to meet in the facility. As the tension mounted over that and other issues, I decided that we should remove one of those issues from discussion by moving. There is a strong feeling among us that we could legally refute to accusations, but while I know there is no legal leg to stand on for refusing a religious organization, I feel quite deeply that the higher road is to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

While bemoaning the loss of our base of operation, none of our ministries have changed, nor has our desire to serve. And amazingly when we moved back to the funeral home temporarily I became aware of a property for sale that would be ideal, and would afford us the opportunity to grow, and to develop a neighborhood ministry. Not only that, we had one of our "attenders" commit to becoming a part of the congregation, and to helping start a children's ministry.

I'm also reminded that the church grows under oppression. When the bamboo curtain went down on China there were estimated to be about 200,000 believers in the country. It was anticipated that when China opened up again four decades later, that there might possible be 2 million believers. Not so, when the bamboo curtain went up, there were over 20 million people who professed Christ.

Oppression or Opportunity? Both -- out of oppression comes great opportunity!