First, let me ID myself - this is Scott.
I have a really bad attitude. Really bad.
I've contemplated putting this out there for a long time, but I've held back for an equally long time. Until now. Here goes.
I'm not really satisfied at my current church right now. I've not been led to the point of leaving yet, but I'm not really content there. I'm in church membership purgatory, if a Southern Baptist can even have legal claim to use that term.
I remember when we first visited and then joined our church back in the Fall of 1994. I loved going there Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights. I couldn't get enough of it. It lasted for years. But in recent years, with the emphases that I've seen, with the approaches to ministry that have turned into programs that have nearly turned our church into a smaller version of the YMCA, with the focus on the bottom line that's made us literally miss seeing the forest for the trees instead of focusing on ministry and spiritual growth, I just don't know what to think anymore.
I also think we're just running haphazard in many respects with our ministries. Sometimes we stick way, way too closely to the letter of the law in our ministries, but there are other times I am upset that we really throw caution to the wind and just beg for problems. There are several examples I could give to document my problems, but I just think we could handle ourselves a little better. I also have a problem with how it seems as though we last-minute most of our ministry opportunities. For example, we (apparently) waited until the VERY last minute to get our ducks in a row for a Halloween alternative to be run by our Awana ministry this year. We just got a postcard this weekend, and last week - the 24th of October - no one really had any idea what we were going to do, but for the fact that it would involve candy.
Did we not know Halloween had been scheduled for the 31st this year?
Those calendars can be tricky, I know...
Am I going to the Halloween alternative or taking our kids? Well, no. First, it's about the "Parable of the Pumpkin Patch". If I want them to know about it, I'll just read them this selection.
Second, if I have to hear one more garden analogy in that building...
Third, it's just the principle of the thing. This was a last-minute, slapped together show. I want my kids to have a nice night, not a night being ad-libbed as we go.
I had a person tell me a few weeks ago that when he was first starting in ministry years and years ago, one of his first full-time church positions required - yes, REQUIRED - him to take one weekend off a month and do something else. Go to a different church, take the weekend off, spend it in prayer at home, whatever...he was required to do something away from that church.
I think I may quickly be approaching that boiling point as well.
I have a really bad attitude. Really bad.
I've contemplated putting this out there for a long time, but I've held back for an equally long time. Until now. Here goes.
I'm not really satisfied at my current church right now. I've not been led to the point of leaving yet, but I'm not really content there. I'm in church membership purgatory, if a Southern Baptist can even have legal claim to use that term.
I remember when we first visited and then joined our church back in the Fall of 1994. I loved going there Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights. I couldn't get enough of it. It lasted for years. But in recent years, with the emphases that I've seen, with the approaches to ministry that have turned into programs that have nearly turned our church into a smaller version of the YMCA, with the focus on the bottom line that's made us literally miss seeing the forest for the trees instead of focusing on ministry and spiritual growth, I just don't know what to think anymore.
I also think we're just running haphazard in many respects with our ministries. Sometimes we stick way, way too closely to the letter of the law in our ministries, but there are other times I am upset that we really throw caution to the wind and just beg for problems. There are several examples I could give to document my problems, but I just think we could handle ourselves a little better. I also have a problem with how it seems as though we last-minute most of our ministry opportunities. For example, we (apparently) waited until the VERY last minute to get our ducks in a row for a Halloween alternative to be run by our Awana ministry this year. We just got a postcard this weekend, and last week - the 24th of October - no one really had any idea what we were going to do, but for the fact that it would involve candy.
Did we not know Halloween had been scheduled for the 31st this year?
Those calendars can be tricky, I know...
Am I going to the Halloween alternative or taking our kids? Well, no. First, it's about the "Parable of the Pumpkin Patch". If I want them to know about it, I'll just read them this selection.
Second, if I have to hear one more garden analogy in that building...
Third, it's just the principle of the thing. This was a last-minute, slapped together show. I want my kids to have a nice night, not a night being ad-libbed as we go.
I had a person tell me a few weeks ago that when he was first starting in ministry years and years ago, one of his first full-time church positions required - yes, REQUIRED - him to take one weekend off a month and do something else. Go to a different church, take the weekend off, spend it in prayer at home, whatever...he was required to do something away from that church.
I think I may quickly be approaching that boiling point as well.
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