Weirdo with a Beardo
This is controversial I admit, but I'm gonna talk about the odd balls you meet at church.
Does it seem that there are more weirdo’s in church than in everyday life (say at work?).
I am a big believer in loving the weirdo’s. Everyone is different and everyone is valuable. I personally have a mental "weirdo limit" that I put in place, in that I will give x amount of emotional energy to an oddball but then I will politely but very firmly excuse myself. You do have to protect your emotional well-being too.
I believe there are 2 types of weirdo.
1. Ultra Christian weirdo’s - these are the really intense ones who can't read an audience so don't realise that you are a bit alarmed and want them to back off.
2. General Weirdo’s - these are people who are weird everywhere and in regard to everything. They may be very nice people and usually have some sort of mental health challenge or disability.
With Regard to Type 2: The General Weirdo
I have a theory - the reason churches seem to attract these odd balls is that church may be the only place where the odd balls are welcomed, listened to and cared for.
If you have no oddballs in your church either:
a. You are the oddball or
b. Your church is not doing the caring and loving thing very well
Just to be clear - you should not
1. Let the oddballs take over your service
2. Spend all your time ministering to them at the expense of others
3. Allow them to hurt your church or its members
And you will need to have strategies in place to minimise the disruption they can cause. But in no way did Jesus say "love others unless they are weird, in which case you don't have to".
In fact for me that is one of the checks for a new pastor
Q: Does he have time for the weirdo’s too?
Type 1: Ultra Christian Weirdo
I have a bit of a problem with this type. I can very much love them and respect their passion but they can do so much damage to others without realising it.
I visited a church once where a moustachioed man in a tight shiny bright shirt approached me with enthusiasm and started to throw around phrases like "saved by the blood of the lamb" and "the grace of God passing all understanding". It was very intimidating as a new comer and if I was a new Christian I would have walked right back out (although strategically he had me carefully cornered so I couldn't escape). It turned out he was a lovely man, with a real passion for God but he had no idea how to socialise with other people unless they too were ultra-christians.
The trouble with these people is that they often only have Christian friends, and only attend Christian events and only like Christians. They have no idea what non-Christians sound like, talk about or are interested in.
These people need our help I believe. I never had the courage to tell him, but I wish I had. He needed to be told "Hold on mate, you're a bit intense and it scares me". He also needed to take this on board and start to think about things from a new person point of view. He needed to be willing to modify and tone down his language in order to connect with people.
Will anyone ever tell him? Probably not.
If they did tell him, would he take it on board? Probably not
If he did take it on board, would he be more effective as a Christian sharing the message of Christ? YES.
So if you meet a type 1, ultra-Christian weirdo - for their sake and yours just say "hey mate, you're a bit intense and it scares people".
Thanks for reading
KG
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