Treat People Like People

Our church is operating a homeless shelter this week on our campus.  We've done this for several years in partnership with other churches, non-profits and our local government.  The shelter is hosted each week, from November through mid-March, by a different church.

Yesterday one of our guests told one of our volunteers how much they loved our church.  He said "not just because the food is good but because of the people; they treat us like we're human."

Wow!  That blew me away.  First, I'm just so proud of the heart that our church has for people - ANY people.  And second, I know this happens, but I can't understand how any church can operate in such a way that someone would walk away and say"They didn't treat us like we're human.  They treated us like we were less than that."

Even a casual reading of the Gospels and the way Christ lived his life shows he NEVER treated anyone like a second-class citizen.

The truth is it's become far too easy and we've become far too comfortable making snap judgements about people that we don't even know and haven't taken the time understand.

• We vilify our politicians rather than seeing them as humans, most of whom just want to make a difference.
• We judge people with different lifestyles without realizing they are just like us, trying to get through life, dealing with the same decisions, the same fears and the same needs.
• We look at someone who is homeless and quickly think "they just don't want to work" when in reality they would love to have a job but just don't know how to overcome the barriers they face.
• We see the "bully" and think "they're just a mean person," when the fact is hurt people hurt people.

So how does our church do it?  How do we treat people like "humans?"  We follow Jesus' example.  He saw others, EVERYONE, as valuable first and then he dealt with their issues.