Johnhwilburn.com

Last month a sixteen-year-old special-needs boy named Jeremy (not his real name) walked into church on a Thursday night. Though he didn’t understand everything that was said, he sat quietly during the entire service.

Since then, he has come to church every Sunday morning and quietly listen from the beginning of Sunday School till the end of church. Last Sunday he was waiting for me when I opened up the church over an hour before Sunday School!

There are many reasons for his coming….

but I think one of the greatest is loneliness and boredom,

A few weeks ago, I gave Jeremy a bible coloring page to color during church. He got REALLY excited about that and ended up doing two of them! Yesterday he happily colored through all of Sunday School, and the morning service.

Some people may think I’m wrong in letting Jeremy come and color when he may not understand everything being said.

But as he colors, I believe the Holy Spirit speaks to his own heart.

Some people come into church who like Jeremy, don’t have everything all together. They may struggle with sin, hold to false doctrine, run from the will of God, or not completely comprehend the truth. Yet church is not for those who have perfect lives (nobody’s is anyways) but for those who admit they need help.

Over time the Gospel will become clear to them, and God will do a work in their lives. But this only happens if we let them come as imperfect people.

So we let them come and color

And allow Word of God to do it’s work.