At Open Door it is not necessary for participants to accept the divine nature of Jesus as the Son of God. They most need to hear about the man he was 2000 years ago during his ministry on earth. Simply the man who did and said wonderful things—the man who was kind and spent time with those the rest of the world wanted nothing to do with. That’s how people who met him at the time he walked the earth got to know him.

Try putting yourself in the place of those who experienced Christ’s presence way back then. Join them in their world and see Jesus as they saw him. They were not aware of what would happen—not aware of the cross and what that would mean for mankind. His divine nature came later in their understanding. Join them and see him as they saw him—the man who showed his love to those who most needed him.

And that’s all that I believe people of other faiths living in our world today initially need to know about Jesus. They first need to learn about him in terms of what they can accept and understand. And they should not be obliged to accept more than they are able. For people who come to the Open Door, struggling with the theological details about him are not as important as it is to know of his immeasurable love. There will be opportunities to explore further if they feel moved to do so.

Converting people at Living Room’s Open Door ministry to another faith is not acceptable. The uppermost purpose is to help them find healing through the message of Christ’s unconditional love.

The Open Door needs to be a safe place where members of a group can practice their traditional form of worship and prayer. The facilitator of will belong to the faith tradition of the group they lead. There could be Christian groups, Muslim groups, Hindu groups, Buddhist groups, and so on. There could even be groups for those who have no religion but would like to find out what the love of Jesus could mean to them.

When I founded the original Living Room, I did not realize that I was starting a new form of mental health support. It came about naturally as God worked through me to find ways of helping people with their emotional struggles—struggles that I myself was familiar with. And as I blessed the members of my group, telling them about Jesus, I myself was blessed.

But I was concerned about the many who were not able to attend a group. They too needed to know the love of Christ. And so, in 2013, I started writing devotionals similar to the devotionals I presented at my in-person groups. I gathered a list of all who expressed interest and began emailing them out on a regular basis. Eventually, it became a twice weekly ministry, which is still alive today.

Today, I believe that God has called me to bring spiritual mental health support back in the form of peer groups for people of different faiths. All people who struggle with the emotional pain of mental health challenges, especially those caused by stigma, need to hear and believe in the power of Christ’s love to heal. All of them need the opportunity to meet with others who have needs like them.