I am not preaching this Sunday, so I won’t post a preaching text this week. Instead I will just post some random thoughts and see if you have any thoughts about them.
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I really miss Wayne and gang.
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I am looking forward to the Marriage Matters Seminar. Are you? Why or Why not?
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I really like rainy days. Do you think that’s weird? I also like snow, and really look forward to winter. I like all seasons.
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I wonder about our church a lot. Most of the time I think we are making good progress, and other times I think we are not. Our erratic attendance patterns bother me, especially when they seem to show a downward trend. I don’t understand it, but I am really trying to turn this over to God totally. I still wonder if we are missing something?? What do you do about apathy? How responsible am I for people who know what they should do but don't do it? What if they just need encouragement to do right and I fail to give it? [I know, I know - give it over to God.]
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I am very excited about the changes we are making in our Leadership Team. Several are getting focused and excited about growing this church toward the heart of God.
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What do we need to do with our flocks to make them more effect?
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How would you design a small group ministry for our church?
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Do you like our mission statement? We are baptized believers participating in the life of God for the sake of others.
Monday, October 16, 2006
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39 comments:
Church is the loneliest place I go. I look around and see everyone, but no one really sees me. I wonder about their lives. Do they really care about more than the newest movie, the latest sports game or the great new clothes they bought at the Mall on Saturday. Maybe I just don't fit in well enough. Perhaps I don't ever want to "fit in". Sometimes I think caring comes with later life stages when you finally figure out what really matters. All the trappings are so temporal. It really never mattered how expensive your house or your clothes. Gossiping and belittling others never really gained anything but scars on your own soul. It is sad to me that the world is so embracing, but the church is the first to slaughter their wounded. It's amazing to me that in all of the diverse circles in which I travel where I am often the only Christian that the "alternative" people accept and embrace me and respect the fact that I love and live Christ, but the church... It's amazing to me how incredibily lonely I feel at church and how much it hurts. It makes think how many others feel like me. How do I find them and tell them that I understand and I care? Transparency carries such a high price in today's church.
anonymous,
I echo Michelle's plea for forgiveness for falling so short.
I wish I knew who you are...I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to share his/her thoughts with anonymity, but you seem to be the kind of person I wish I knew. You seemingly possess wisdom beyond your years.
The frustration you feel in the social setting of our church community is that of someone with a deep understanding of how Christ intended His church to be. Because of that, my heart aches to think that you feel lonely when surrounded by His people. We are a bunch of flawed beings and, unfortunately, too often we let the regrettable aspects of our nature--the self-centeredness, the materialism, the urge to love ourselves too much--take center stage. The scary thing is, the more often we do that, the easier it is to crowd Christ into the far corners of our heart and not allow his nature to outshine ours. As I grow in Christ as a member of the church, I understand more fully how important it is to be transparent--at any cost. If we do not allow ourselves interaction beyond the obligatory Sunday morning "how do you do?" it's impossible to connect and embrace each other as parts of the same living, breathing, growing church universal. What you are experiencing is perhaps someone's misunderstanding of how to relate to others and get beyond the "small talk", perhaps a symptom of someone's genuine immaturity, and perhaps encounters with those who want to care about themselves and the "temporal trappings" more than others or Jesus. Shame on us.
But, praise God that our leadership and, I believe, a majority of Christians at Mitchell Church of Christ understand that we must live for the sake of others in order to bring glory to Him! I hope that I can know you and that we can help one another figure out what it means to be more like Him.
anonymous,
It made me cry to read your post.I echo Michelle and Jean's apologies to you . It has struck me the incongruity of coming all the way to Poland to tell people of God's love and desire to have a relationship with all people when we have family and loved ones who need to hear that very thing from us. Somehow I don't think you are the only lonely person among us. Please continue to share your thoughts and ideas on how we can better serve you and others like you. Don't think that older folks like me have it all figured out. We can still learn many things . You may be just the person to teach us how to love better. I hope to see you soon..God bless you for being so open
Church is often consideded as a place to gather and talk without being a place where deep or lasting friendships are made. Many people come on Sunday morning and spend a "few" minutes before and after the service talking then never see or talk to anyone from Church the rest of the week.
Also many people are so tied up with their own worldly problems and activities that they can not find time to spend with "Church" things and activities. Many people do not have time to talk to strangers as they are trying to have conversations with those who they see often but feel that they must talk to now instead of talking and getting to know others in the Church.
We are all too busy with "other" things to be Christ like and see and talk to others in the Church.
Our Church should be one big family but I do not know everyone and am sure that most of the members do not know eachother. We all need to do a better job of getting to know eachother. It is something that is not in our "comfort" zone but needs to be done.
I'm going to venture an unpopular opinion. Do you think it's possible that we're a little too big, numbers-wise? Allen expressed concern in his original post that attendance was fluctuating. Maybe we're expending a lot of energy on outreach when we need to focus more on keeping and nurturing the people we've got. At least for a little while. Sometimes I feel like we're frantically pouring water into a bucket that has a hole in it. I think we need to plug our "hole."
I'm also going to stick my big nose in, Anonymous, and suggest you schedule some time to talk one-on-one with Allen. You sound so depressed that I suspect church isn't the only place you feel lonely. I'm sorry you feel over-looked and uncared-for. I think we try, as a congregation, but we're just not "there," yet.
Donna
I want to avoid saying very much at this point, but a couple of things:
Neva's post made me well-up with tears.
Donna, it is both/and. We cannot/must not neglect outreach, but... I have been deeply concerned about "inreach" for a long, long time. Accountability, community, connection are so crucial and yet so difficult. We are making progress, but clearly we have a long way to go. The emphasis on our Connection Ministry, flocks, and Sunday school classes are all an intentional effort to address the problem that we have.
I would like to hear more thoughts before I share more of my own.
I love our church family and feel blessed to be here and to be a part of this (needed) conversation.
From WAYNE:
hello there,
we were all eating lunch and talking about blog comments and then we turned to Jerry and Lynn Jones and Bethany..our 22 year old jumped and was so excited.....in Chattanooga while she was a youth intern ,the church had the Marriage Matters..and she really thought it was great. She said" i just love miss lynn" she felt really encouraged to do more in God's kingdom. Sure hope this will encourage others at home to plan on being there and to invite friends. We hope to be there for some of the meetings..All goes well..having some of the students for the last time. Hope all goes well with you all.
In Christ..in Poland
wayne
I wonder if it would help if we could make more ways for small communities to form within the congregation more "organically." Maybe I'm alone in this, but I sometimes feel that efforts made to grow a sense of community are a little arbitrary and forced. The gardening group is an example of an activity where people with a common interest can get together. I think this is more the sort of thing we need. People tend to form relationships with people with whom they share common interests and concerns. The Mommy group is another example. Maybe we need more of these types of groups.
Donna
Dear Anonymous. I don't know who you are but I am deeply sorry that you are having these feelings and I hope that I have not carelessly or thoughtlessly contributed to your sad feelings. I have been exactly where you are and it takes alot to get beyond those feelings. I have learned that to get beyond those feelings I have to force myself to reach out in some way to someone and find ways to help them and by doing that I am lifted. I appreciate you sharing your honest feelings. That is hard to do. Most of us hold it inside and let it fester and become depressed. We live busy lives and our congregation is very diverse and spread out geologically and it makes it difficult to always be everywhere for everyone. I try each day to live the way God would have me to live, always looking out for someone who might need a smile or some encouragement as I do my job each day in the office where I work and in the neighborhood where I live. God puts us in the world to be lights. I know I do not live up to the pattern given to me in Jesus Christ in all the ways I shoud but I try. Please make yourself known to me and be my friend because I need freinds too. You cannot have too many and sometimes I too feel very alone. I try to remember that many of the members here have common histories having known each other for many years. As we work and spend time together we create a new common history together by sharing our lives with one another. I too feel we need to be closer and need to really know one another. I love to have people in our home and do miss the small groups we once had because it gave us an opportunity to know one another better. Sometimes I worry that noone 'really' knows me because I did not grow up in this area but I have lived here for over 40 years and we spent 26 years in another congregation. Each of us come from different situations in life and offer a perspective than noone else has. You have a tenderness of heart that is needed so much by those around you and it is obvious that your faith shows in your daily life. I really want to know you better. Give me a call anytime at home or work so we can talk. I want to be your friend and know you much better. God bless you for sharing. With love, Sherron Fields Home (cell) 279-2747/Work 279-4411.
I understand how feels to be lonely at church. I have been there myself. My sincere apologies to anonymous and anyone else I may have overlooked and not been kind to. I would not want to make anyone feel unwelcome but I am sure I have. As we all strive to be more like Jesus, Satan works harder to keep us from shining. May we all see each other as Jesus sees us and show each other His love and grace and mercy.
Kedra
Allen, you said something about small groups. Were you talking about study groups or social groups? Or both? How would we get the ball rolling on this?
Donna
A lot of reading, thinking, talking, and praying has taken place and is taking place about small groups. We hope to have something in place within a few months.
What ideas do our blog readers have?
I think the post by "lonely" was an honest appraisal of their condition. Unfortunately, another person who attends MCOC remarked to me that they felt like the post was a mirror of their own feelings as well.
As being the person in charge of connection I would really like some suggestions on how we as a leadership team can do things better. There are opportunities there for all now. Wednesday Evening Meals, Wed. night classes, Sunday morning classes for all age groups, mommmy groups, gardening club, women and men's softball, open gym, faith quest, and food pantry. To be involved in any of these will help in getting to know others. I came from a church of 50 to a church of 250 and I know the process of change can be hard. There are times when I still miss the closeness of a small church. I pray that if anybody has any suggestion to come and talk to me anytime. My goal is to make our church as close as any small church. I pray for your help and please if anybody doesn't feel a part of our church family talk to some of us. WE CARE !!!! We are looking into this very hard. We will pray for you and I hope you will pray for us.
God Bless you all,
Anthony Edwards
I find today's discussion most revealing...both in the depth of need of the original poster and the outpouring of genuine concern by others.
What can be done?
Well, would it work to have a one-on-one program where older more outgoing members take newbies or those that need a little coaxing under their wing. I guess it would be sort of a big brother big sister type of thing.
MKC
I understand where anonymous is coming from...when my family and i moved here, it was very difficult for me...I am not from here and did not know anyone from this area when we moved here(with the exception of my husband who grew up in Mitchell). When I decided to start looking for a church, it was very awkward and difficult to feel as though I fit in, especially since I did not grow up in a church environment and this was all new to me including the people...I decided that I needed to make contact with others...introduce myself to them. Just because I was the new kid on the block, and did not know anyone, didn't mean that I could not reach out to others..those same people did not know me either. I also decided i needed to help out in some of the different ministry opportunities. Once I took those steps...WOW! a whole new world opened up to me! I have met some of the most wonderful people ever and have made friendships that will never end! And I have gotten to know Christ in a way that I never would have without this
wonderful Church Family.
I encourage you to introduce yourself to others and to take advantage in the different ministries that are available.
Wednesday night meals are also a great opportunity along with Sunday & Wednesday classes. I do not know if you are female...but if you are I invite you to come to our Ladies class on Wed. nights...it is full of fun,loving women who want and try
to live as Christ would have us to...of all ages and in all
different stages of Christian walk and life. I personally would like to get to know you and hope that I have not done anything to hurt you or make you feel unwelcomed...if i have, I am truly sorry! You are welcome to come and sit with me anytime in church or class. I look forward to getting to know one another.
Laura
i have already sent this to alan, in one of the emails sent to us in Poland, this saying was at the end."be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet each day is fighting some kind of battle." I wish that i could profess that i have always been "kinder than necessary" in my life but must confess i only wish it were so. The battles we fight in our lives each day must be given to Jesus and then we can seek others and encourage them to give their cares,worry and battles to the gentle,kind and loving Jesus.. may God help us all to walk with Him with a kind and gentle heart.
This seems somewhat relevant:
U.S. Population Growing Faster than the Church, Research Shows
The Christian Post reports that new research based on a database of over 300,000 churches across America indicated that overall the population is growing faster than the church. The director of the American Church Research Project, Dave Olson, who has been working for years to record actual attendance of churches across the country, said that overall church attendance is virtually unchanged from 15 years ago despite the fact the U.S. population has grown by 52 million people. According to his research, the northeastern part of the country is the only region where the church is growing faster than the population while no state has seen a net increase in the percentage of church attendance in the last five years, "The evangelical church is becoming suburban, affluent, and educated," Olson said. "The Christian community needs a restoration of its understanding of the message and mission of Jesus. It needs to be less self-righteous, individualistic, and materialistic. It needs to be more biblical, Christo-centric, and holistic."
I have always felt more connected to our church than any other church I have attended over the years. When I first started attending MCOC with Michael last fall I felt welcomed by everyone but knew that the only way I would feel connected was to get involved. Sure I wanted to sit back and let people come to me but I needed to be the one to make that first step to find my niche in the church. I think our church offers a lot of ways for people to get involved doing things that they enjoy and eventually finding their niche in life and in chruch. There are great sunday and wednesday classes and other groups that meet throughout the month to get involved with. I agree, sometimes we could all do better being more open and willing to invite newcommers and current members into our lives. I know I do not make nearly the effort I should. I regret that.
An idea I have of small groups or flocks is the idea of house churchs. (My church in Indy had this format) The house church was basically a small group bible study that met in peoples homes all around the city and the group would discuss and unpack the serman from sunday. The groups were organized in such a way that an elder was over several group leaders then the elders would visit their groups regularly to check on how things were going. The leaders would lead the discussion of the serman. People also chose which group they wanted to be apart of. Generally this was based on location but can be based on life situations such as newly married, young marrieds with kids, etc. This of course is just an idea. But I was wondering if we'd get more ivolvement with flocks if people had a life connection to their group, rather than the church saying you are in this group the people could decide which flock to be apart of based on personal preferences...
I really like the direction we are going and I can truely see that this church and our leaders are striving after God's heart and will and making decisions based on God's direction. I am certinaly blessed to be apart of MCOC!!! :O)
P.S. I'm really excited for marriage matters and am looking forward to what I will learn!
I did not write the first post, but I could have. I had to read it twice to make sure I hadn't indeed written it. It is hard to read some replies where others are quick to let me know that not only am I lonely, but it is "my fault" as in - if I would just reach out and join it I wouldn't feel this way. I'm not asking you to solve my problem, I'm just sharing my experiences. I am not new to our church family I have been here for years, I have been or am involved with groups/committees, and yet I do feel more lonely in church than anywhere else.
Why is this? I do not know, but it's a fact. It isn't even new to me as I have had this particular battle for a few years now. I don't think it's an isolated problem. I don't think that tossing out new activities or groups will make it go away, in fact I flinch every time we add another item to the list. Where will it all end? How much do you want from me? If I give everything the body is tossing out at me will there be anything left for my own family and my personal relationship with God? What we have going on right now is exhausting to some people, just the mass quantity of activities and requests of me, my time, my money, my talents. Sometimes I think we have made it all too hard and too busy - in all the outreach, special interest groups, teens, preteens, golden-agers, etc. Is any of that wrong? No, but have we lost the beauty and simplicity of simply coming together to learn and worship? Do we lose that in the clutter of everything else? Do you even notice when I am absent? Do you know anything about my life, my walk with God, my struggles, my victories? Do you even know who I am?
I think that you can feel invisible and disposable in the middle of your church. I don't come up to you and demand your time and attention, nor do I need a listing in the bulletin or a special prayer from the pulpit. I would love to worship with a family; a group that knows I have great attributes and terrible weaknesses but loves me anyway, a group that sees that though I might not do something exactly like you it doesn't make either one of us wrong, people who check on me when I am sick and encourage me when I am down. I know this is possible, because I do have it in other areas of my life - but not at my church. I find my support, encouragement, and chastisement/guidance elsewhere and there it is not so lonely. I attend church because I believe God wants it from me, it is an obedience issue for me not a desire to attend. Perhaps that is just how it will be for me.
That makes me sad. I don't sense the demands or the judgment that you hint at. I don't sense or see much of what is being said. Will you come see me, please? I would really like to talk with you.
The people in prior posts were not suggesting that its your "fault" for not being connected. I think there was a lot of apology and reaching out going on, along with some good suggestions.
I love you whoever you are! I know I have failed you and many others. I keep trying to improve, and I am not alone.
Allen, you haven't "failed" anybody. You work your rear end off.I'm a lazy slacker, but pretty much everybody else who's posted here works hard and does their best to serve God and each other cheerfully. This church has had a lot of growth; sometimes we handle it well, and sometimes we don't. But, a lot of good-hearted people are working really hard to make things better. We're not perfect, but we're trying.
Donna
Thanks Donna. I care and feel very responsible and don't know when to stop with either (see original post). I really want everyone to be connected and content. I know that will never happen, but I desire it.
We cannot lose sight of the fact that we are all imperfect. The Leadership of the church is made up of imperfect people trying to lead imperfect people. It is only by the grace of God that we have such a wonderful, loving family. Can it improve? Yes, and we will continue to work very hard with God to reach out and in. Will we achieve perfection? No, but we will do the best we can.
And, by the way, I think this conversation is good, healthy, and helpful.
I often read Mike Cope's blog http://www.preachermike.com. (He preaches for the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, TX.) Here's what I found today; it's a quote from N.T. Wright's lastest book (which I have read), followed by Cope's comments. Both are talking about church.
“I use the word ‘church’ here with a somewhat heavy heart. I know that for many of my readers that very word will carry the overtones of large, dark buildings, pompous religious pronouncements, false solemnity, and rank hypocrisy. But there is no easy alternative. I, too, feel the weight of that negative image. I battle with it professionally all the time.
“But there is another side to it, a side which shows all the signs of the wind and fire, of the bird brooding over the waters and bringing new life. For many, ‘church’ means just the opposite of that negative image. It’s a place of welcome and laughter, of healing and hope, of friends and family and justice and new life. It’s where the homeless drop in for a bowl of soup and the elderly stop by for a chat. It’s where one group is working to help drug addicts and another is campaigning for global justice. It’s where you’ll find people learning to pray, coming to faith, struggling with temptation, finding new purpose, and getting in touch with a new power to carry that purpose out. It’s where people bring their own small faith and discover, in getting together with others to worship the one true God, that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. No church is like this all the time. But a remarkable number of churches are partly like that for quite a lot of time.”
from Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense.
That’s the irony, isn’t it? We all have our frustrations with the church. Most have been burned at one time or another by someone acting unchristianly “in the name of Christ.” We’ve hated the shallowness, the meanness, the legalism, the disappointments.
And yet . . . the church is also a force of great transformation. It’s a place where the greatest story of life is faithfully proclaimed and lived. It’s where grace and forgiveness can be learned. It’s a place with hope amid death, joy amid defeat, and meaning amid confusion. It’s the older men and women we’ve known who exude compassion; it’s the young women and men with dreams of justice and mercy; it’s the children learning to sing “Our God Is an Awesome God.”
Your church is not growing. In fact, the few times I attended, I felt like it was the coldest most detached group of believers I had ever ment.
I am sorry you have had bad experiences. I think it would be considered very unusual. In fact, most people consider us to be a very friendly, loving group of people. I hope you will come back sometime.
I am not going to apologize, i don't believe it is what you're looking for or what you need, but i certainly sympathize. I love God and ejoy worship service, unfortunately it is a lot more than just worship time. For me it is also a time of acceptance and rejection from our christian peers. There are some people at church that i long for their attention. The acceptance is WONDERFUL, but the rejection (or perceived rejection) is absolutely horrible. Alan and others genuinely want to know how to fix these problems, my answer is i don't know. I'm not even convinced that you will be checking back for responses and "answers". The loneliness feelings, emptiness feelings, rejection feelings can be incredible and i don't know if the answer lies inside of me and you or somewhere else. What i do know is that people like us can help other people from feeling like this. My name is terry slone and i am glad to meet the real you even if i can never put a name with the blog and i commit to try and keep someone from feeling like this beginning now. This is a big challenge for me as i am the type to want others to come up to me not me seeking others out, please help me.
I appreciate the apologies. I didn't mean to sound so harsh with my 'detached' comment. I had read the many previous posts and began to have a strong feeling of hostility. In fact, this has been bugging me all day to the fact it is not 2:30am and I am writing this post because I cannot sleep. I shouldn't have come off the way I did and I apologize.
However, I still feel like the time that I was at MCOC everyone was too preoccupied with other things and didn't really open their arms to those outside of the 'nucleus' of the congregation. For example, when it was coming time to raise money for the building additions I felt the church became too focused on hitting a certain monetary number and almost seemed as if they would be disappointed if they didn't reach it. I always felt that if everyone was giving all they possibly could and the overall collection was short of the goal--great! You know why I say that?, simply because it should be a great feeling if everyone gave all they could. Everyone showed how much they love God and want to see his work done. If you were short, you were short. God would provide for the congregation. However, it seemed to me that there was almost an attitude of disappointment and repremand toward the church family if they didn't hit a certain money amount.
Now, I love God with every fiber of my being. I'm not denouncing him or my Christian faith (I am a born-again Christian). Thing is, it was simply hard for me at times to see the 'big picture' or eternity, faith, and my salvation at this church when I felt that others were too preoccupied with other, relatively small things in the scope of life.
Again, I apologize for the way my previous post may have came off. I hope and pray that you continue your walk with the Lord, and have a blessed life because of it. God Bless!
[Thanks for your second post. I assume you are not the first post following my original one but the longer one that expressed a lot of concern and dissatisfaction.]
You bring up one of large contribution efforts from the past. I am fairly certain it was for the addition onto the Family Life Center. If I recall correctly, we were a few thousand dollars short of our goal, and yes we were disappointed. I recall an honest sharing of the amount we had received, which was short of what we had hoped to receive. I did the talking, and I do not recall pressuring anyone to do anything. I do know that once people knew the shortfall it was made up in a matter of a couple of days. I also recall carefully tying the contribution to the mission of God. Specifically we made the connection between what we were giving and the saving of souls, souls of children and teens. Without the additional space we were short on classrooms and space to handle all the teens that come. In my mind all of this was/is for the glory of God. No one is more concerned about the responsible use of our contributions than me. If I recall correctly we also ended up receiving enough that we sent $5,000 to Flordia for hurricane relief.
I want us to be what God wants us to be in this world. I agonize over it at times. I battle the demons of disappointment and discouragement a lot (most ministers do). I can identify with Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12. Many days I long for the Second Coming when all will be made new. The battle will then be over.
I know some are concerned about this blog and the impact it may have on me personally. Thank you for your kind notes of encouragement. I am actually pleased by what has happened here this week. I think much good is going to come from it. Tears have been shed, hearts have been pricked, and minds have been stimulated. None of that is bad.
We must remember the church is made of up imperfect people. We ALL bear the responsibility to make it better. What are you doing to improve things? It is easy to identify problems and complain about them, but what about solutions? I am thrilled that so many are offering solutions in this week's blog. Clearly a lot of people really care about this body.
I love all of you.
Allen...I noticed nobody has commented on any of your other thoughts..so here goes.as one of the "gang" thanks for the kind words ..we all miss you even if you have forgotten our names..as for rainy days, I guess any day the Lord has blessed us with is good.. as our grandson says " if God made it we shouldn't complain about it." We are looking forward to seeing everyone Sun. and are excited about the seminar..we have known Jerry Jones for many years..he baptized our middle son Brad so we remember him fondly...we have one more day to see students..its sad to leave them..they are all wonderful people many of whom travel 30 min. to an hour one way by train and bus and then walk 5 or 6 blocks to come and learn the Bible and English..and they never complain .. they come with smiles and leave with smiles...they tell us the main reason they come is to learn about the Bible.
Molly and Mike Dawidow , the missionaries here, are a hard working great couple.Mike is from here but Molly is from Mississippi. They have dedicated their lives to this work and are always needing teachers here, so if any of you are interested we would be glad to talk to you...It's a great program. See you Sun. Lord willing.
i can definitely relate to the comments from "anonymous" about church being a lonely place. I grew up in a small church and always felt so close to everyone and loved going every week. Since i have been coming to mcoc i haven't felt any real connection. I feel like there are clicks that are difficult to become a part of. There are so many activites, which is wonderful, to an extent. But it seems at times that it is almost more about social events that worshipping God and connecting with others.
Neva, thanks for the refreshing post. We miss you, Steve, Linda, and even Wayne.
***
The reason we have "social" events is to connect, for fellowship. The hope here is this: if people will take advantage of bible classes, flocks, Wednesday evening meals, and other "social" events, they will not feel disconnected. That is partially why we have all those things. Further connection comes through service of others.
I try really hard to preach about who we are and what we are, but not everyone hears it. In fact, attendance on Sunday morning for worship only is not going allow anyone to really experience or even understand this body of Christ. This would be true of any church, I think. God is about community, and we best experience him and find fulfillment in that context.
We really are striving to be the people of God, participating in his life for the sake of others. May God help us to cooperate with him more and better. Will all of you join me in that prayer?
It makes me sad that everyone jumps on the negative bandwagon when a few people open up and share difficulties. Yes, I think we as a body have some significant issues that need attention. However, there are many wonderful people in our body who work diligently for the Lord and His work. Every church is made up of sinners, while this is not an excuse it is a truth. Let's honestly look at our shortcomings, but do it in love. We have great potentional and desire to serve God.
On other questions you posed...I am wondering if we are any closer to having small groups esp. for Sunday evenings (or meeting another night)? I think as a church grows bigger, it would be nice to have the closeness of a small group. Would this also help/aid the ability to be 'transparent' with each other - within that small group first and then within the whole?
I see many positives expressed in the blog this week. "Negatives" tend to stand out and dominate the landscape. I feel worn out but pretty good by what has happened here this week. I kinda wish I was preaching, but it will also be nice to have a break.
We are definitely closer to having small groups. We are really trying to figure out how to do it. The flocks have not been that well received, so will small groups be like that? What's the point of either? I have picked up a theme/perception in the blog this week that the flocks were forced upon the church. That was not the intention. Why did we implement flocks?
There are many ways to organize small groups. Most people seem to want "affinity" groups: being with the people you like or who are like you. So what do you do with the ones who don't quite fit? How does 1 Corithians 12 and other "body" passages fit with such a concept? It seems that N.T. community was "forced." Jew and Gentile (they hated each other) were put in the same community by God and were asked, with the help of God's Spirit, to be the body of Christ, and to be united. I have often said that the greatest test of how well we understand God's heart is how well we can get along with those not like us. What do you think?
Many things to think about...
Do it all with love and consideration, reflecting upon God's will, not your personal preferences and desires. It really is all about God. Really.
Allen, your thoughts on why flocks were set up the way they were makes absolute since and makes me regret the fact that I didn't try harder to get to know the people in my flock and the fact that I didn't attend flock meetings very often, or even at all really.
I like snow, I can't wait to drive in it and I wouldn't care at all if we got another 24 inch snow fall this winter!! We are about due for a large snow fall i think. :O)
I love our church and I'm excited to see where we are going spiritually and as a congregation! I think some really great things are going to be coming soon.
From this blog i realized that I need to make more of an effort to welcome people in our church, not just the visitors but the people who i've been sitting next to for months! Our connections team can't do this alone. They can welcome us at the door but we need to welcome people in the seats too!
I'm really looking forward to Marriage Matters. I think it will be a great learning experience. I want a great marriage and I'm hoping to walk away from the conference with some tools to help make my marriage great.
I'm excited to hear from Wayne and the gang when they get back. I've missed them.
What a nice, encouraging post! Thanks.
Snow lovers unite! You know we are considered freaks by most.
I just want to tell Allen and everyone who works so hard at MCOC how much I appreciate all they do. It is impossible to be all things to all people and the devil works overtime when anyone trys to make things better for those around them. We all have different gifts and talents and I feel a great freedom here at Mitchell to use each of those He gives us in so many ways. God does not put limits on us when we seek to do good. But the devil will throw discouragement in front of us in any way he can. It is so easy to shrink back and say 'what's the use' but we are called to be strong because we have a mighty God behind us, guiding us in his kingdom through His word. There are so many people I want to get to know better and in just a few weeks have gotten to know some people I barely knew through the Garden Club. I did not grow up in a Christian home and I can tell you that going to church with Christian friends as a young person was a breath of fresh air for me and it meant so much that I walked 1/2 to a mile in winter and summer to meet my ride to church every Sunday morning, every Sunday night and every Wednesday evening. We were very poor and had it not been for people giving us clothes we would have had nothing to wear. God has blessed my life in so many ways and sends His love to us daily in so many little and large ways like the little wren who sang a song for me as I left for work this morning and the rose that bloomed this morning. My first connection is to God and I do want to know everyone better who worships with us here at Mitchell. I think the different stories of how we each arrived at Mitchell Church would be amazing
and would strengthen our faith in a God who loves us all. Thank you to all who welcomed us with open arms and continue to bless our lives with your love and care and hard work. Love, Sherron
I like the double post. That way we get to see all the subtle nuances of your expressions, plus we just get to be encouraged twice. Good deal in my mind!
And, welcome to the blogosphere, where life can be kinda weird but interesting! Just like several people I know. ha ha ha
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