In his first cover story for a national magazine, Pastor Patrick Shaffer, 33, spoke candidly about some of today’s most pressing social issues. In Being Single magazine, the divorced shepherd of City of Faith Christian Church on the South Side, open
In his first cover story for a national magazine, Pastor Patrick Shaffer, 33, spoke candidly about some of today’s most pressing social issues. In Being Single magazine, the divorced shepherd of City of Faith Christian Church on the South Side, openly discussed his efforts to fight AIDS in the Black community and what he sees as the top four mistakes many women make in relationships.
While most Christian churches subscribe to the ideology that single Christians should not engage in sex before marriage, Shaffer doesn’t whole-heartedly agree.
“Abstinence is the first verse of a whole song,” Shaffer said in the interview. “With the majority of my congregation being women, I cannot preach a message that’s strictly abstinence only. I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore the reality of people’s lives and the HIV/AIDS statistics in our community,” he said.
In the article, Shaffer said the church has “blood on its hands” regarding the AIDS crisis due to the fact that it has “failed to have bold and courageous conversations about sex and sexuality.”
On the issue of relationships, Shaffer told the magazine that there are four mistakes women often make:
• They see relationships as the answer to all their problems.
• They usually give up too much too soon, such as sex, money and their hearts.
• They get involved with men who are not their equal, believing they can change them.
• Too many women exude a poor self-image. “When a woman doesn’t see herself as valuable, she will attract like-minded people into her life,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer’s unorthodox style and religious philosophy are not the only things that make him unique. Since February of this year, his Hyde Park-based congregation has worshiped in a historic Jewish synagogue making him the catalyst for bringing two very different cultures and religions together in peaceful co-existence. Blacknews.com
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