The teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta, has launched a “Missing Persons Project” campaign to encourage local faith communities to “recognize and receive [their] forgotten members,” those who might be considered social outcasts or even marginalized by their churches.
“Today, the Body of Christ is missing many of its members. Too often we’re guilty of assigning greater value to one part than the others,” says Stanley in an introductory video on In Touch Ministries’ website.
In Touch Ministries, founded in 1972 as “The Chapel Hour,” has been releasing a series of special reports in an effort to encourage local churches to “welcome all people with open arms of love,” according to Stanley, who referenced at the start of the video James 1:27. The Bible verse describes “pure and faultless” religion as looking after “orphans and widows in their distress” and keeping oneself “from being polluted by the world.”
The ministry shared news of the “Missing Persons Project” on its Facebook page this week, although the campaign was launched earlier this month. Social media supporters of Stanley’s teaching ministry appeared impressed with the mission of the campaign and expressed hope that it would encourage outreach to all members of society.
“Some of the Missing are not welcome into the church,” wrote Marietta Bishop Shirley Palmer on the In Touch Ministries Facebook page. “Such as Gay/Lesbian’s, sex offenders who have paid for their crime, and others with a very tainted life. Who shares God’s word with these people? Aren’t they children of God too? It says, ‘Come the way you are and you will be welcomed’ … So why aren’t some people allowed to worship in the ‘church’?”
Edward Saldana, another Facebook supporter of the ministry, added, “Thank you for leading this project…I know it will be a blessing to many both in & outside of our churches!!”
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article courtesy of TheChristianPost.com
