We had an attending family who was exactly that: Attending – nothing more, nothing less. However, they were regular and never missed a weekend. They often sat in the same spot and made good eye-contact through the teaching time – the kind of people a pastor likes to have to watch so he can see if he’s connecting or not. They laughed at my jokes, interacted with me during the service – and even though they never seriously contributed ANYTHING other than their attendance, it was good to have them there. Then one weekend, they were gone. No big deal, I thought, probably travelling or sick. Then came the next weekend, and they were again gone. Then the third weekend came, and they were still absent.
I called them to check up on them and tell them that we missed them, and they informed me that they wouldn’t be back to church. I asked if there was something that had happened or if I could talk with them about it more, and the father answered, “Oh, no, Pastor Tony, nothing is wrong with you or the church – we’ve loved every moment of being there, and the kids looked forward to it. THAT was the problem. We want our church-going to count for something, and we’ve enjoyed Adventure so much that it’s like not even going to church. So we’re going back to our old church. The kids aren’t happy about it, but at least now they can learn something about sticking with something they don’t like and that’s good for them. We’re sure going to miss attending Adventure, but we’ve got to do something to show that we are committed to God no matter what.”
When he finished, the silence hung in the air like the flash after a stun grenade. I gathered my thoughts and asked him, “So, if you’re not miserable at church, you think God isn’t honored by that? You HAVE TO BE miserable in order to validate worshiping God?” He hesitated and then answered, “Well, yes. That’s kind of how we see it.”
And they were gone back to honoring God like many did in 16th Century Germany. :)
1 comments:
Wow.
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