Are You Kidding Me?

Strange things always happen in the Church! Things that you never expect. Yesterday was one of those days. There was a woman in the Church who I knew was upset with me because I did not know who she was. In God's wonderful providence she just happened into the Church yesterday to help out with a ministry.

After she was done we had a chance to sit down and talk about her being upset. She is in her 50's so the baby boomer mentality was there. What I mean by that is the baby boomers are known for their "me" type of thinking (my parents are boomers so I know this generation). When we began discussing the issue at hand I asked her politely if she was mad because I did not know who she was. She affirmed that she was. She also informed me that it was because she was a daughter of one of our Elders. Can you imagine that? First of all I told her that I had only been at the Church for 9 months now and it was immposible for me to know everyone here because we are a decent size Church. She still thought I should have known. In my mind I was really thinking "well, if you would attend regularly I probably would have known!" Did I also forget to mention that she has never introduced herself to myself or my wife? Well, now you know.

In the Church people are starving for relationships, but the problem is that know one wants to put out a whole lot of effort. Church should go beyond coming to Sunday morning worship and putting your blessed assurance in the pew and expecting everything to work itself out. To build relationships in the Church requires EFFORT! It requires time and patience to develop relationships with other people. It is not an overnight event. It takes a person who is committed to loving God's people as we are commanded to do.

To be honest I am glad that this has happened. It is a reminder to me as a Pastor that people need opportunities of fellowship so that they can get connected to one another. As a Pastor I am realizing that if the Elders and the Staff are not highly motivated, and involved with connecting people to each other outside of Sunday Morning Worship then it will not happen like it should.