| In the 1970's I was a youth pastor for a beach-community church in San Diego. We believed basically as you've outlined above. We did a lot of outreach in the homeless/alcoholic/drug addict "communities" that were and still are common in the beach area.
Unfortunately, that's not the style of religious living that's very popular. The big churches, wealthy ministers and rich congregations are more enticing than simple little pastorals trying to live and minister in a way they believe Jesus would have approved of. I'm sure we had an impact on the lives of a few, but it was nowhere near as impressive as the numbers posted by places like the Crystal Cathedral.
Even now I'm convinced that those who believe and want to live a truly Christ-like life are always going to be marginalized, ignored by those who want to believe in order to profit their own lives. |