by Mrs Haruo » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:04 am
Tim- I agree on you about Methodists tending to be much more involved with trying to solve community social problems than many SBC churches. I am not a cradle Baptist- in fact I was unchurched for the most part till I was in High School. One Christian influence I had was Girl Scout leaders who were from the Methodist church in the neighborhood. In the month of March, the Scouts observe Girl Scout Week, and you are encouraged to wear your uniform to church or temple or wherever you worship that week. Our leaders explained this to us and always said "If you don't have a church your family goes to you are welcome to come with me, and that was the one time I went to church each year through most of elementary school. As an adult, when I was a Girl Scout leader in another state, and the church I had been a member of for quite a few years had a new pastor and his wife seemed determined to stamp out something called "secular humanism" I thought having my troop meet at the church instead of the elementary school might be a great outreach, but she sneered at me and said "Oh yes, you have become involved with that SECULAR organization. They had a fortress mentality too, and discouraged public schools, books about dinosaurs, etc. After awhile I got tired of being expected to hang my brains at the door and dropped out. The art museum near my home put an announcement in the local paper that the were wanting volunteers to train to give public tours and being an arts major, I went to their training sessions. The museum was across the street from the Methodist church, and many of the volunteers who staffed the front desk and did fundraising activities for the museum and gave tours were women from the Methodist church. I was relieved to find out that it was possible to be educated and also be a Christian.
Don't despair if your job and your rewards are few, remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you!