On Sunday Mornings
Tommy Mitchell, the Rurban Church Blogger, made a good obervation about what's going on in our communities each Sunday morning. Ouch!!
My wife and I were traveling back home yesterday morning (Sunday). As we traveled along in Mobile it was impossible not to notice that a lot of people are out and about living life on Sunday! We had to stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of items for the tail-gate party. It was about 11:00 am and when we left I told my wife that we in the church, while we are in the church, tend to think that everyone else is probably at church too!
That is not the case! The vast majority of people in our area on any given Sunday are unchurched! More than that - they are not "studying" us - the church! I think about our conversations at church! They are far too often "me" and "us" centered - what we like about worship, music, Sunday School - the structure, the activities etc.. Most of our conversations are not about connecting with the majority of folks who never think about any church! And they are in the vast majority!
It really does a fellow good once in a while to get out on a Sunday, during church time, and drive around a bit. You will begin to see quickly that the church has to become much more intentional about fulfilling its mission! Many - I will say - most - of those people you will see out and about are perishing and don't know it! We have the Light of the world - but have a church building placed over it!
My wife and I were traveling back home yesterday morning (Sunday). As we traveled along in Mobile it was impossible not to notice that a lot of people are out and about living life on Sunday! We had to stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of items for the tail-gate party. It was about 11:00 am and when we left I told my wife that we in the church, while we are in the church, tend to think that everyone else is probably at church too!
That is not the case! The vast majority of people in our area on any given Sunday are unchurched! More than that - they are not "studying" us - the church! I think about our conversations at church! They are far too often "me" and "us" centered - what we like about worship, music, Sunday School - the structure, the activities etc.. Most of our conversations are not about connecting with the majority of folks who never think about any church! And they are in the vast majority!
It really does a fellow good once in a while to get out on a Sunday, during church time, and drive around a bit. You will begin to see quickly that the church has to become much more intentional about fulfilling its mission! Many - I will say - most - of those people you will see out and about are perishing and don't know it! We have the Light of the world - but have a church building placed over it!
Just because someone is unchurched does not mean that they are not Christians.
ReplyDeleteYou could call me unchruched right now because of the bad experiances that I had going to Chruch. That does not mean that I do not believe and that I do not read my Bible and that I do not care about others.
As far as Wall Mart, there were numerious friends from my local Wall Mart at my wife's calling and furnal but not a single Church member from what I had called my Church.
Walt
Tommy Mitchell really said it...
ReplyDeleteI think about our conversations at church! They are far too often "me" and "us" centered - what we like about worship, music, Sunday School - the structure, the activities etc.. Most of our conversations are not about connecting with the majority of folks who never think about any church! And they are in the vast majority!
We have the Light of the world - but have a church building placed over it!
I think we've kind of shuffled that one commandment about remembering the sabbath and keeping it holy to the bottom of our "to do" list...like it's an option, just like all our other options. Except for mail delivery, life goes on as usual on Sunday, doesn't it? We all expect to be able to fill our gas tanks, pick up the newspaper and a few groceries, maybe go out for dinner, go to walmart, the hardware store etc etc, after we go to church....so are these people who work in these places perishing, or are they just doing their job because we demand it? What would happen if these low-wage employees asked for every sunday off? I remember in the not-too-distant past (the 60's) when the drug store and Laska's (they had a small grocery section) and maybe one gas station was about all that was open on sunday morning. We lived. We just had to plan ahead.
ReplyDeleteWalt,
ReplyDeleteI am sad to hear of your unfortunate experience with church people. Not all churches are that way. Most churches are full of loving and caring people who would do just about anything to help somebody. Maybe you should try another church. When my husband died, my church family rallied around me and helped me make it through. I feel so sad that you didn't have a loving church to surround you like that.