Defeated

My mind has been wracked with brothels. Illegal brothels especially.

And i am defeated. Oh how i tried to think of a good topic that incorporated illegal brothels (as Gavin requested)... But alas, i must wallow in defeat or stagnate in a flood of illicit brothels.

But, i did say i tried...

I thought about the brothel across the road from church. Turns out my father-in-law did the plumbing for the cool fountain... I wondered what they had to do to get their licence (i assume they have one). Did they inform the government that they are in a residential area, across from a church (Even Jeremy wondered this on the weekend)? Also, are they expecting an upturn in trade once the Totem opens? Will they have want ads?


Aside from my local brothel (i guess that's what i can call it?), i revisited the brothel in St Leonards. But it wasn't noteworthy... i just read their water meter.

I wondered about the patronage of brothels.
Do they care about licences? Is it like a doctor... Do you want to see some credentials? How many people go to brothels? How do they stack up compared to church attendance? The Uniting Church has a +million members, would we beat them?

Finally, it occurred to me that i could attract some undesirables through this topic. Through the mystery of web-searches, someone has already been directed to my ramblings through "Christian whore" (i guess they were disappointed when they arrived here!). I going to guess that my use of "illegal brothels" will be a let down for someone in the future...

Brothel ministry?

A few days ago I was searching for something on my blog and stumbled over one of posts which mentions brothels.

At my home church there was a brothel within 50 meters of the front door. If you looked from the church noticeboard, you would be able to know if they were open by their neon sign.

As far as I knew, we did nothing to reach out to them (but to be honest, we didn't go out of our way to form a link with the barber or physio either!).

Over the last few days I've wondered what would happen if, in a church meeting, you suggested an outreach ministry to prostitutes.
Would you be judged for making the suggestion?

Furthermore, how would you pitch the idea and how would you go about forming the connection (xxxchurch deals with porn, but is there an equivalent you can call for this industry?)?

Working friends

Today i went to a brothel.

Everything was above board. I was just there to read their water meter, or, more specifically, ask them where exactly their water meter was located.

I was admittedly sus going in. The name on the door said Jemma's of (insert un-named suburb here). Situated in the back of an industrial area, i figured that Jemma wouldn't be providing a professional knitting service.

I went up the stairs (another bad sign!) and was quickly unsettled. Now, it wasn't exactly the set of a porno and i was the young buck "here to clean the pool (i mean read the water meter)," but the "receptionist" was not comprehending what i was trying to communicate (i hope she wasn't trying to decipher an obscure euphemism) so i quickly left.

The experience did get me thinking. With a brothel across the road from church, how would a friendship work between a "workin girl" and someone in ministry?

Does a youth minister just walk up to reception and ask if anyone needs a friend? What happens if you're seen leaving?

Or, what happens if you know a prostitute prior to her becoming a "woman of the night?"

You wouldn't hang together while she was "on call," but can you chat out front at other times?

Finally, do you need to tell the senior minister what you are doing? What happens if they say no?

Jesus hung with prostitutes after all... should we?