THE CHURCH IS A HOSPITAL TOO - by Catalyst ✍️

"GO HOME AND CHANGE" that was the welcoming speech. She was a first timer. She walked into church that Sunday wearing what she considered a decent dress, perhaps expecting a welcome, a sermon, and maybe a reason to return. She was still looking around, trying to understand the atmosphere and find her place, when someone approached her and quietly said, “You need to go back home and change. Your dressing is not acceptable here.” She looked at herself, then at the person speaking to her, probably wondering what exactly she had done wrong. I kept thinking about it: How do you tell someone who has come to change to go back home to change? Maybe she had been battling something far deeper than her dressing. Maybe coming to church was already a difficult decision for her. Maybe she had spent days convincing herself that she should give God another chance. Yet the first thing we noticed was her skirt, her sleeves, her appearance. We corrected the outside before asking what brought her inside. There is nothing wrong with holiness, modesty, or personal consecration. In fact, there is something beautiful about a person who chooses to surrender certain things because of their walk with God. A pastor may decide not to wear certain clothes, keep certain hairstyles, watch certain movies, listen to certain music, or participate in certain activities because of his personal conviction. That is his altar before God. But sometimes, what began as personal consecration slowly becomes church doctrine, and what was once “God is leading me this way” becomes “Everyone must walk this way.” We must learn the difference between personal conviction and biblical commandment. Not every standard a pastor lives by automatically becomes a standard God has placed on every member. There are things Scripture clearly teaches, and there are things individuals choose because of how they understand their personal walk with God. The danger comes when we make every personal conviction a test of someone’s Christianity. We can end up measuring spirituality by sleeves, hairstyles, jewellery, music, trousers, makeup, or a hundred other outward things, while forgetting that people can look perfectly “churchy” and still be quietly falling apart inside. The church is full of sick people, perhaps far more than the hospital. People come carrying addictions, guilt, confusion, grief, anger, shame, heartbreak, and wounds nobody can see. Some are not coming because they have already changed; they are coming because they want to change. Some do not know the right words to pray yet. Some do not know the rules. Some are still learning what their faith means. And sometimes, the most powerful thing we can offer them before correction is simply the assurance that they are welcome. So yes, teach holiness. Teach modesty. Correct where correction is necessary. Uphold biblical standards. But let correction come with compassion, especially when dealing with someone who is only just finding their way into the church. We should be careful that our zeal for appearance does not become a barrier between a wounded person and the God they came searching for. She came to church for the first time. Maybe she needed a Saviour before she needed a wardrobe change. Maybe what she wore needed correction, maybe it did not. But before we decide that someone is unworthy of the sanctuary because they do not yet understand our standards, perhaps we should remember that Jesus did not ask the sick to become healthy before coming to the hospital. Catalyst ✍️

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