2010-05-16 Indifference

I have witnessed a change in our church over the last several months, and I like it. Our church has been growing, repairing and updating our building, and functioning smoothly. I believe we are overcoming indifference that has divided our church for many years and finally allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and fill the place. I believe this is attributed to multiple factors – leadership, humbleness, and participation. For instance, we are preparing to officially install Ray as the pastor, we have Janet fulfilling critical roles as the associate pastor, new directions with committee chairpersons that sound very promising, planning sessions, along with providing opportunities to those who are willing to serve. We have made great leaps and bounds, and for those, I am proud to be both staff and member at FCC-Shawnee.



Nonetheless, we cannot allow our church to become complacent. We must continue moving forward. We need to continue to strive to become the “Good Samaritan” church. We, as a church body, have so much to offer to those in the community, especially non-believers and/or non-church goers. I believe it is time for us to start focusing more on visitors of our church and getting people to visit us.



I would now like to share the following with you:



The Wisconsin Restaurant Association researched why people did not return to a specific restaurant. They discovered 1 percent did not return because they died, 3 percent moved, 5 percent formed other relationships, 9 percent preferred a competitor, 14 percent didn't like the product, and 68 percent did not return to that particular restaurant because they felt there was an attitude of neglect and indifference. People respond to churches in similar fashion. If they feel neglected or sense indifference, they will stop attending. Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, said, "The enemy is not love nor hate, but indifference." (Preacher Talk, Brian Harbor, Vol. 3 Tape 1, 1995; Progress, Dec. 1992, p. 43)



What about at our church? Are we broadcasting an attitude of neglect? We may not be able to accommodate every indifference, but we can definitely overcome neglect. But how do we do this? Whose committee does greeting and welcoming guests fall under anyway… oh, wait, this isn’t a committee responsibility, it is a congregation responsibility. With that, I am making a call to action statement here: please take a moment each Sunday to look for visitors, before service, during service, after service, and let them know they are welcome here and invite them to come back. Who knows, it might change somebody’s life, maybe even yours.



Josh