Restauring Bullied Christians

There are lost sheep that Jesus wants to restore.

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 

And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ Lk 15:4–6 NIV

This well-known parable of Jesus is ignored by some preachers.

However, it should admonish us that we are called as witnesses for Jesus to win people for Jesus.

Many preachers use this parable to encourage us to pray for others and to evangelise. That is right and very important.

But when I consider this little story carefully, I don't see a wild sheep that has never been tamed.

The lost sheep in this parable already belonged to the flock, but somehow got lost.

I have no experience with sheep, but I do know a bit about keeping chickens.

My wife and I had a few chickens in our small backyard. It was always an outsider, a chicken that was bullied.

Then my mother-in-law gave us more chickens and the bullying got much worse.

One of the new arrivals was of a different breed. This hen had long feathers on its head, but no red crest.

The other hens were the worst racists.

The different-looking hen was totally rejected, cruelly picked on and rejected.

The bullying was constant and brutal. She moved away from the others and secluded herself in a corner or hid behind a bush.

There are communities where sexual sin is punished harshly, but very unfairly, because it is always the woman who is blamed. If a girl or young woman is harassed in this way and leaves the church, who takes care of her?

There are churches where a wife is supposed to obey unconditionally, but when husbands are cruel and domineering, the wife is blamed. Who cares for her?

There are many Christians who truly believe in Jesus, but they are somehow different.

A young man was converted in a very evangelistic church. In this church, cigarette smoking was tolerated for a while after conversion, but not for long.

After a few months this young man was still smoking and he was condemned as a rebellious sinner and cast out.

Such churches criticise churches without discipline. In the New Testament we read of only one case where a sinning Christian was to be expelled from the church.

But only one Christian in the New Testament was expelled from the church because of sin. He was a man in Corinth who was involved in a sexual relationship with his mother-in-law.

There are churches that function like exclusive sects. Those who do not submit unconditionally become victims of bullying. If such a Christian is expelled or leaves the church, no one cares about him.

In Corinth, some such preachers had seized control of the church. Paul rebuked the Christians who had submitted.

In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 2 Co 11:20 NIV

This still happens. There are many traumatised people who have been victims of bullying in churches and cults. They are lost sheep. Who looks after them?