Back when I lived up in in North Florida, there was a mental health facility near me. The residents of this facility were there for different reasons. Most of the residents were their because of demonstrable mental health issues like schizophrenia. None of them were violent mental cases. They just could not function in a non-managed care environment. They were not criminals, nor had they been assigned to this facility by the courts.

But some, a very few of the residents did make there way into this facility via the court system, and because of confidentially rules like HIPPA, I had no way of knowing what that reason might be.

Three of the individuals, two men about my own age, and one young 18+ boy, I started taking them to Sunday school and church with me. I felt confident that neither of the three were a risk to members of the church, but still I never left them alone, if I ever needed to do anything like go to the restroom, I would ask another church member to watch them. They were never unsupervised.

One day a couple of deacons of the church told me that they had a meeting and determine that bringing the guys from the mental facility to church represented an unacceptable liability to the church. Specifically they mentioned that the churches insurance policy my not cover any incident related to a person deemed mentally incompetent that knowingly was allowed to attend.

I could hardly believe their words to me.

By the smiles on their faces, and the tears in their eyes at hearing the word of God, I knew that God was speaking to their hearts. All three of them at different times came down the isle, made a public profession of their faith, and were baptized. I saw more than one member with tears in their eyes because they saw the love of Christ working in the hearts of these broken men, and they instead of coming to me, explaining the potential issues, and seeking an acceptable way to mitigate any small risk, they more or less said, "we don't want them here any longer." This kind of broke my heart. I was forced to abide by their decision, but i did scold them for the way they handled this, and it did affect my entire outlook to some degree on the priorities of what we call "the church" that facility that is made of bricks where insurance policies seem to weight who is worthy to hear the word of god within its walls and who is not.

Back when I lived up in in North Florida, there was a mental health facility near me. The residents of this facility were there for different reasons. Most of the residents were their because of demonstrable mental health issues like schizophrenia. None of them were violent mental cases. They just could not function in a non-managed care environment. They were not criminals, nor had they been assigned to this facility by the courts.

But some, a very few of the residents did make there way into this facility via the court system, and because of confidentially rules like HIPPA, I had no way of knowing what that reason might be.

Three of the individuals, two men about my own age, and one young 18+ boy, I started taking them to Sunday school and church with me. I felt confident that neither of the three were a risk to members of the church, but still I never left them alone, if I ever needed to do anything like go to the restroom, I would ask another church member to watch them. They were never unsupervised.

One day a couple of deacons of the church told me that they had a meeting and determine that bringing the guys from the mental facility to church represented an unacceptable liability to the church. Specifically they mentioned that the churches insurance policy my not cover any incident related to a person deemed mentally incompetent that knowingly was allowed to attend.

I could hardly believe their words to me.

By the smiles on their faces, and the tears in their eyes at hearing the word of God, I knew that God was speaking to their hearts. All three of them at different times came down the isle, made a public profession of their faith, and were baptized. I saw more than one member with tears in their eyes because they saw the love of Christ working in the hearts of these broken men, and they instead of coming to me, explaining the potential issues, and seeking an acceptable way to mitigate any small risk, they more or less said, "we don't want them here any longer." This kind of broke my heart. I was forced to abide by their decision, but i did scold them for the way they handled this, and it did affect my entire outlook to some degree on the priorities of what we call "the church" that facility that is made of bricks where insurance policies seem to weight who is worthy to her the word of god within its walls and who it not.

Back when I lived up in in North Florida, there was a mental health facility near me. The residents of this facility were there for different reasons. Most of the residents were their because of demonstrable mental health issues like schizophrenia. None of them were violent mental cases. They just could not function in a non-managed care environment. They were not criminals, nor had they been assigned to this facility by the courts.

But some, a very few of the residents did make there way into this facility via the court system, and because of confidentially rules like HIPPA, I had no way of knowing what that reason might be.

Three of the individuals, two men about my own age, and one young 18+ boy, I started taking them to Sunday school and church with me. I felt confident that neither of the three were a risk to members of the church, but still I never left them alone, if I ever needed to do anything like go to the restroom, I would ask another church member to watch them. They were never unsupervised.

One day a couple of deacons of the church told me that they had a meeting and determine that bringing the guys from the mental facility to church represented an unacceptable liability to the church. Specifically they mentioned that the churches insurance policy my not cover any incident related to a person deemed mentally incompetent that knowingly was allowed to attend.

I could hardly believe their words to me.

By the smiles on their faces, and the tears in their eyes at hearing the word of God, I knew that God was speaking to their hearts. All three of them at different times came down the isle, made a public profession of their faith, and were baptized. I saw more than one member with tears in their eyes because they saw the love of Christ working in the hearts of these broken men, and they instead of coming to me, explaining the potential issues, and seeking an acceptable way to mitigate any small risk, they more or less said, "we don't want them here any longer." This kind of broke my heart. I was forced to abide by their decision, but i did scold them for the way they handled this, and it did affect my entire outlook to some degree on the priorities of what we call "the church" that facility that is made of bricks where insurance policies seem weight who is worthy to her the word of god within its walls and who it not.