Hey we don't get coffee and donuts at my church! But seriously:
To be honest in any group of people if you're the odd family it's going to be more difficult to integrate. My parents are the odd family inside of our larger extended family, so I understand that feeling of being on the peripheral.
Also in church because my Mum is autistic her way of interacting with people can put them off. And that meant me and my sibling were on the outside too. Plus my Dad is an atheist and is actually really rude to anyone my Mum knows through church, so they're not going to get invited anywhere together. (disclaimer: not all atheists are rude)
It's hard to know what to say without seeing the personalities in action. Your family could always look for another church.
Oddly enough at church yesterday we were told very directly to think about whether there were any people we were personally avoiding because we find them a bit odd and were told not to do it and make more of an effort to include everyone because everyone has value in God's eyes.
Can you imagine Jesus avoiding genuine people because of what others thought of them? No, he wouldn't. Remember when he met Zaccheaus the tax collector and people were like, he's a bit dodgy, you can't go to his house for a meal. But Jesus saw more to him that what others could see and that's how we should be. So yeah the people in your church are not behaving very Christian.
Personally I avoid the self righteous types and make more time for the nicer people. Invite them round for a coffee and get to know the nicer ones better. Life is too short to worry about nasty people.
Someone I knew from years back told me of a time she decided she wanted to start going to church. She was a single Mum and with her little girl at her side they wandered in, quietly found a seat and then we're quite promptly told to move because they were in a more prominent family's seats. She never went back and found a different church to go to where she's been for 30 years now.
It's ok to move church. Not every group that gathers in a church and labels themselves as Christian is a Christian. Some people go to church just for show.
ladyelaine wrote:
Dad has reached out to people for help finding a job. Nobody wants to use their connections to help him get a job.
This isn't helping your situation any, although I know you have no control over what your parents say or do. No one is obligated to find a job for someone they know by "using their connections". It's assuming a bit much to think they have connections anyway and even then, if they do have connections there still may be no jobs available.
There's a social line here. If there really are no jobs and your Dad keeps asking then that's just making everyone feel awkward.
It's better to keep church and business separate in my experience.
Saying that though, I have actually recommended people I've known though church for jobs, but only for people I knew could do the job and when there was actually a job available. But they didn't ask me, I just knew them well enough to know they needed work.
26 Apr 2016, 3:59 pm
