By Rich Nathan, Vineyard Church of Columbus

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Over the past several months, we Americans have been saddened to read daily reports of adolescent abuse and scandalous coverups within the Roman Catholic Church. As a Christian and pastor of a nondenominational church, I grieve with the victims of abuse, their families and my fellow Christian believers in the Catholic Church.

I have heard reports of individuals asking whether the day of the church has passed. In the wake of the recent scandals, does church still make sense? Does the Christian church still make a positive difference in people's lives?

The examples that I'm going to share spring from the ministry of the church that I pastor, Vineyard Church of Columbus, in Westerville. But they could be multiplied exponentially by the thousands of other churches -- Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox -- that are involved in similar life-changing ministries.

Does the church still make a difference? Consider the story of Billy Ray in his own words:

"I've spent most of my life as rootless drifter. I was estranged from my family and every other kind of healthy relationship. I eventually found myself completely homeless, living just south of Downtown by the river. I spent three years down there and was completely without hope.

"A church group from Vineyard came down to the river on a regular basis to pass out food and blankets, as well as other supplies. I was almost always drunk, yet they kept offering me friendship. The Christianity I saw in their lives was not just a bunch of rules. Instead, they were offering relationships. 

"Through the church, God began to change me. I spent a week going through detox. A pastor at the church helped me to arrange a place to stay at a halfway house. I was able to get a job as well. The church found me an apartment to live in. I have been sober for over two years now. I recently reconciled with my father, and I am attempting to reconcile with my son. Each Saturday I take groups from the church down to the river to minister to my old friends. They see how much God has done to help me. Several have followed me off the streets." 

Churches do more than 90 percent of all work with the homeless in America. Churches, virtually alone, run soup kitchens and food pantries in inner-city neighborhoods. Churches are responsible for most welfare-to-work programs. The vast majority of successful drug- and alcohol-abuse recovery programs are faith-based. 

Church makes a difference in America in saving people's marriages and families. A Columbus couple experienced severe marital crises through job loss, debt, blended-family struggles and an extramarital affair by the husband. Divorce papers were drawn up, but shortly before the divorce was finalized, a church member invited the couple to go to Vineyard's marriage-restoration ministry, Begin Again. Through it, the husband became a Christian, hope for the marriage was restored, their divorce papers were burned in the fireplace and the couple reconciled. 

A year later, the wife said, "Our marriage is 100 percent better and we, for the first time in our lives, understand what marriage is all about." They are helping other couples regain hope for destroyed marriages. 

Church makes a difference in the lives of people with AIDS. Roberto, 40, attempted suicide three times in the month before he came to Vineyard's support group, Project Compassion, for those who have AIDS or are HIV-positive. Roberto tearfully confessed that he did not want to go on with life and that he was without hope. The group lovingly gathered around him to pray for him. He asked the group to pray that before he died, he might be able to visit his family, from whom he had been estranged. The family lived outside the United States, The group asked God to help him. 

Amazingly, Roberto received a plane ticket in the mail a couple of weeks later. He believed that the ticket was a sign of God's love and a modern miracle for him. He was reconciled with his family, began attending the church, had his hope restored and is at peace with God. 

Church still makes a difference in the lives of those who are looking for a relationship with God. At the end of the fourth century, St. Augustine said, "Lord, you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you." In the 17th century, mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal said, "Every human being is born with a God-shaped hole that can only be filled by God." 

And in the 20th century, Douglas Coupland, the best-selling writer who coined the term Generation X, wrote these words at the end of his book Life After God: "Now here is my secret: I tell it to you with the openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God -- that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, because I seem beyond being able to love." 

From Augustine to Coupland, the church has assisted people who are looking for God. Don't give up on the church. It continues to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. The church can make a difference in your life! 

Consider visiting a church here in central Ohio. If you don't have a church home, you are warmly invited to visit the Vineyard Church of Columbus in Westerville. Our motto is, "Come as you are, you'll be loved!"

Rich Nathan is the Senior Pastor at Vineyard Church of Columbus, a non-denominational church located in Westerville, Ohio.

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