What would you do?

[DeWayneTN]

The group Bash Back came into an AOG church service and disrupted it with pro-gay flyers, shouting and pulling the fire alarm. No arrests were made. How would you handle it?

http://www.freep.com/article/20081112/N ... /1008/NEWS

[Shellie]

Have ya'll met Junior from my church? I'd holler, "Hey Junior, grab 'em and hold 'em while I get the oil."

[crispfin]

Pray for them and forgive them.

[DaJudge]

I think we have an ax handle out in the church utility shed.

[Pastor Gary]

The group Bash Back came into an AOG church service and disrupted it with pro-gay flyers, shouting and pulling the fire alarm. No arrests were made. How would you handle it?

First, they would not come to my church -- have you SEEN the big Hawaiian men there? BUT, if they were stupid enough to show up, my men are well able to escort the disruptive outside. Gently. Uh huh.

[dolfan]

Wait outside the church and hand out business cards to the bruised and battered??

[Sherry]

Wait outside the church and hand out business cards to the bruised and battered??

ROFLOL!!!!! That was good...and should have been expected!

[PastorDaniel]

as fast as it happened...we probably would have done the same thing...nothing...

most likely though, if I had the opportunity, I would have just called the church to prayer...I don't think that there is a lot that could be done...

Dolfan...any ideas...other than marketing your law firm

[MacUser]

( #1 ) Be sure first my family was safe. My first role is to defend them. Then the other innocent people around me.

A real radical group of any size could burn the entire building down. Insurance will rebuild a new structure. Forget that in a real radical event.

If a clear head could be stopped and the issue resolved. Formulate a quick plan with the brothers to do so... knowing that #1 is beyond a doubt secure.

[PastorDaniel]

( #1 ) Be sure first my family was safe. My first role is to defend them. Then the other innocent people around me.

A real radical group of any size could burn the entire building down. Insurance will rebuild a new structure. Forget that in a real radical event.

If a clear head could be stopped and the issue resolved. Formulate a quick plan with the brothers to do so... knowing that #1 is beyond a doubt secure.

I agree with this...especially if danger was sensed...my previous response was based on this specific situation...no one knew what was going on...just a bunch of shouting...a banner waving...some paper wads....a fire alarm and running out the door....

[Billy n NC]

Wait outside the church and hand out business cards to the bruised and battered??

ROFLOL!!!!! That was good...and should have been expected!

That was GREAT!!! as tony the tiger would say..

LOL

[Jennifer Smith]

It's almost like churches should have a plan ahead of time.
Schools have intruder drills, we know what to do. As often as this is
beginning to happen, maybe we should pray and think about what we would do. But then again, the Lord provides wisdom at the moment sometimes.

[TW]

It's almost like churches should have a plan ahead of time.
Schools have intruder drills, we know what to do. As often as this is
beginning to happen, maybe we should pray and think about what we would do. But then again, the Lord provides wisdom at the moment sometimes.

In this day and time this is a sad fact of life. If history teaches us anything, it's that this type of event will occur more frequently and become more physical. this group has flown a "test balloon," and since there were no legal repercussions, they and other radical gay groups will continue these activities. The best course of action is to plan ahead, and be ready to respond if or when they visit your church. If your church has an usher corp, they should be the ones to handle the situation. One or more of them should have the ability to call the police (everybody has cell phones these day, use it), and let the police handle the intruder. When calling the police, do not call 911 unless there is imminent danger, call the normal dispatch number. The police will give an incident at a school, hospital or church a higher priority than other calls. Never allow the confrontation to become physical unless there is the real danger of one or more of your congregants being injured. Get as much of the activity on tape/video as possible for use as evidence.

Yes, God can grant wisdom at the moment, but He also grants us wisdom to be prepared. The prudent course of action is to avail ourselves of this time to make preparations.


TW

[DeWayneTN]

Good post, TW. Very wise counsel.

[RaceRunner]

Well, in our church, they would have to shake at least 20+ hands before they could even sit down in service....so they might get tired of that pretty quick They couldn't just "sneak in"...so they would have lot's of attention and I'm sure everyone in church would figure out what they were up to pretty quick, since they would definitely "stand out in our crowd".

So, if they still decided to go through with their protest....so what? It's just a bunch of noise...nothing of any consequence in the end. We would invite them stay for service. Ha!!! Our shoulders are big enough to handle a little noise during church for goodness sakes.

Like in the story, the protestors would probably scream out their viewpoint and leave.....to which we would just shrug and go on with service...with a special prayer for them of course.

If they decided to stay for service (highly unlikely), I'm sure the Pastor would preach something like "Salvation from denomic influences"; coupled with prayer. We would even ask if we could pray with them. But that's all imaginary, because the protestors would never stay anyway.

If the protest was in the parking lot. Then we would go outside and welcome them to service...if they didn't want to come in, then we would go back inside and start praying down conviction on them. I'm sure they would quickly get bored if we weren't confrontational and go away. Our weapons of prayer are greater than words anyway. We might even look upon the situation with joy...

The police only need to become involved when there are weapons or violence (including defacing property) involved. That is a civil matter.

Not the same situation, but one time, the old church we used to worship in backed up to an alley in an older part of town. It seemed that during service, someone would throw small parking lot pebbles at our back door (which opened into the sanctuary) during service and run away. We didn't know who did this for a while, until one time, it happened during daylight right before service and I was standing at the door.

I quickly flung the door open and saw they were children (which we suspected anyway) and stepped out and happily and in a very friendly manner invited them to church. They didn't come...but they did quit throwing rocks at our door. Ha!