A Response
I never, ever thought this would happen, but that church emailed me back. Below is the response from the Baptist Church I wrote a letter to a couple weeks ago. Obviously, I've redacted the name of the church and pastor, but everything else is exactly the way it appears in my email box right now.
Hi Jennifer,
I wanted to respond to your contact of our church. I know it has been a bit of time but, I wanted to pray about this response and make sure I thought it out appropriately. Wanted to clarify a couple of things. If you were pressured into making a decision that you didn’t want to make, I personally want to apologize for that. A relationship with Jesus Christ is one of a personal choice and decision. That should not have happened and that is not the practice of _______ Baptist Church. I personally stress to our church counselors this must be a decision the person has to make and wants to make themselves. I even encourage them not to make this decision if they do not want to and that this would be ok. At the camps we have attended there are multiple churches and counselors who may be more pushy than us. Again, I am sorry for that encounter you had with a counselor. I on behalf of ______ ask your forgiveness.
Now, I am not sure if you have the right church do to some of the comments made below. There are approximately 4-7 _______ Churches in the St. Louis vicinity. But, if we are the ones you are talking about then I must clarify some things you are recalling.
1. everyone was encouraged to go outside and find a councilor to confess their sins to.
Scripture never says to confess sins to other people, unless it was something you have done to that person personally, and we have never held to the practice of confessing sins to other people except for God himself.
2. the praying would not end until every child was out of their seat and giving testimony to one of the adults
I have attending every camp ______ went to up to the past 5 years. We never hold any service until every person makes a response. There are services where most or all people make a decision. There are times when very few people make a decision. There are times when people are dealing with God and or a counselor and the (led in prayer) invitation will go on until they are done dealing with God. But, I assure you we don’t and have never conducted an invitation with the mindset that it will not stop until everyone responds.
3. Eventually, one of the councilors came to get me.
Again, this should not have happened. I call this “person led” and not “God led”. God should be the motivation behind a decision not a person coming to get you from your seat. I apologize if this happened to you. I hope you would forgive our church for this event taking place.
4. I was forced to pray and be "saved."
Scripture clearly says that this is not right. I am sorry to be so firm on this but please take it in the love and grace it is being sent. There is no way we or a camp we attended would force anyone to pray and ask Christ into their life. This is a personal choice you have to make and if this was the case and true, _______ would never be part of it.
5. Every time someone asks me why I'm an atheist, I mention that night and your church.
I am not sure if I understand this comment. Being and Atheist says that there is no God. But every comment you made speaks of feeling forced or uncomfortable about certain events. If you don’t want to believe in a God that is your choice but don’t blame ________ for that decision. Your action should never be determined by what others say or do. We have a choice in spite of what others do or say. This concept says you have no choice but to be an atheist. God is real whether you believe it or not. But, please be accountable to your own decision to reject that there is a God.
Jennifer, I hope you see my honesty in this reply. I take responsibility for what could have happened and apologize for those things. But, there are some items that could not have happened. Some people write generic letters like this to multiple church web pages ( I don’t believe this is the case), or the perceived perception of a person recalling something 12 years ago. I hope you find your way on this journey of life and I have prayed for you today. I would love to discuss things further if you wish or if you have any questions concerning the existence of God or anything else please contact me.
May God Bless,
Pastor [first name]
PS Please see my gentleness and truthfulness in this response!
*************************
I haven't responded yet. Instead of "praying" on a response, I'm going to ask for comments on the internet. That's more my style.
Hi Jennifer,
I wanted to respond to your contact of our church. I know it has been a bit of time but, I wanted to pray about this response and make sure I thought it out appropriately. Wanted to clarify a couple of things. If you were pressured into making a decision that you didn’t want to make, I personally want to apologize for that. A relationship with Jesus Christ is one of a personal choice and decision. That should not have happened and that is not the practice of _______ Baptist Church. I personally stress to our church counselors this must be a decision the person has to make and wants to make themselves. I even encourage them not to make this decision if they do not want to and that this would be ok. At the camps we have attended there are multiple churches and counselors who may be more pushy than us. Again, I am sorry for that encounter you had with a counselor. I on behalf of ______ ask your forgiveness.
Now, I am not sure if you have the right church do to some of the comments made below. There are approximately 4-7 _______ Churches in the St. Louis vicinity. But, if we are the ones you are talking about then I must clarify some things you are recalling.
1. everyone was encouraged to go outside and find a councilor to confess their sins to.
Scripture never says to confess sins to other people, unless it was something you have done to that person personally, and we have never held to the practice of confessing sins to other people except for God himself.
2. the praying would not end until every child was out of their seat and giving testimony to one of the adults
I have attending every camp ______ went to up to the past 5 years. We never hold any service until every person makes a response. There are services where most or all people make a decision. There are times when very few people make a decision. There are times when people are dealing with God and or a counselor and the (led in prayer) invitation will go on until they are done dealing with God. But, I assure you we don’t and have never conducted an invitation with the mindset that it will not stop until everyone responds.
3. Eventually, one of the councilors came to get me.
Again, this should not have happened. I call this “person led” and not “God led”. God should be the motivation behind a decision not a person coming to get you from your seat. I apologize if this happened to you. I hope you would forgive our church for this event taking place.
4. I was forced to pray and be "saved."
Scripture clearly says that this is not right. I am sorry to be so firm on this but please take it in the love and grace it is being sent. There is no way we or a camp we attended would force anyone to pray and ask Christ into their life. This is a personal choice you have to make and if this was the case and true, _______ would never be part of it.
5. Every time someone asks me why I'm an atheist, I mention that night and your church.
I am not sure if I understand this comment. Being and Atheist says that there is no God. But every comment you made speaks of feeling forced or uncomfortable about certain events. If you don’t want to believe in a God that is your choice but don’t blame ________ for that decision. Your action should never be determined by what others say or do. We have a choice in spite of what others do or say. This concept says you have no choice but to be an atheist. God is real whether you believe it or not. But, please be accountable to your own decision to reject that there is a God.
Jennifer, I hope you see my honesty in this reply. I take responsibility for what could have happened and apologize for those things. But, there are some items that could not have happened. Some people write generic letters like this to multiple church web pages ( I don’t believe this is the case), or the perceived perception of a person recalling something 12 years ago. I hope you find your way on this journey of life and I have prayed for you today. I would love to discuss things further if you wish or if you have any questions concerning the existence of God or anything else please contact me.
May God Bless,
Pastor [first name]
PS Please see my gentleness and truthfulness in this response!
*************************
I haven't responded yet. Instead of "praying" on a response, I'm going to ask for comments on the internet. That's more my style.