There's Hope For TodaySample

“Pastor, I’m leaving.” On rare occasions those words have made me happy. Most of the time they are tinged with sadness. Almost everybody tells me that “God is leading” them elsewhere.

I was under the strong impression that He was all about building a church, not de-populating it. The questions always come: “Have I failed? Has the church failed? Is there a hidden offense?” I’ve come to grips with the fact that some people are only with you for a season. Some are God’s scaffolding, sent to help a church through a growth phase, but many people leave unnecessarily. Relationship is usually at the core of an unwanted, unhealthy departure. Those departures should be rare. To strengthen the church, we must strengthen relationships.

Connecting within the body of Christ should be a shared challenge. We must wage war against isolation and divisiveness. Our church services often leave people alone in a crowded room. People who feel “invisible” have a way of making themselves invisible on a permanent basis.

Is your church unfriendly? Is your church a weekly gathering of “alone” people? Fix it! If you are not part of the solution, you’re contributing to the problem.