Worship leader Darlene Zschech was quite surprised when a number of Christians reacted negatively to her performance at the Vatican this month, having assumed that she was there to promote Catholicism.
However, Zschech said this was not the case. Writing on her blog Changes, she said she and representatives of other Christian denominations were invited to the Vatican to come "together to pray for the world we live in, to worship together, to announce the Hope of Jesus to all who will hear."
Zschech and her husband Mark felt that it was important to go to the event, and so they did. Zschech said she had a wonderful time witnessing "expressions that make us different as God's colourful church."
However, much as Zschech enjoyed her trip and found it enlightening, several of her fans did not. A lot of them even wrote mean and hurtful comments in Twitter about the worship leader's involvement in the Vatican.
"I must say I was completely taken by surprise at the harsh and downright mean comments from Christians who criticised my involvement in the event without any understanding, without any knowledge of why or how I got to be there, or why I even felt it was important to be present," she said.
"I was not there to judge, I was not there to become a Catholic. I was not there to sightsee. But I WAS there to lift up the name of Jesus ... without any hesitation or compromise ... for as I have learned over many years, that once Jesus is the centre ... anything can happen," she said.
Zschech encouraged people not to be "dulled down" by lack of understanding or a judgmental attitude but instead be aware of how precious life is and be ready to fulfill God's calling in their lives.
