Tag: church

Posted in Ministry, Rant

Why doesn’t our church do that?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

“Why doesn’t our church do that?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that question. Another church, near or far, does something newsworthy, and the first question is, “Why aren’t we doing that?” It’s a good question, and I’ve thought about a few responses, some better than others.

When I first hear a question like that, I’m tempted to think, “Great, something else I have to do.” That is not at all true. It is just an opportunity, and more specifically, an opportunity for the person who brought it up to get involved. We should assume that if someone notices a need for ministry, then God is moving them to get involved in that ministry. So a better response is, “That’s a great idea. What’s your plan? Who are you going to get involved?”

But as I think about it further, I believe we also need to stop thinking about competing with other churches. If a congregation is doing a ministry, then we are too, if we truly believe that the “church” is just more than our local congregation. In effect, if another church is doing it, then our church is doing it, too, and the question becomes, “How can we can join them in their efforts?” We do not need to reinvent or clone every ministry, but can enhance what God is already doing. Maybe that’s part of the message he’s sending when we wonder, “Why aren’t we doing that?”

Posted in Rant

Why aren’t you going to church?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

From time to time, I call people who are members of our church who do not attend worship at our church. I guess I should say they rarely attend worship. It’s always an interesting conversation. I don’t have to tell them why I’ve called. They immediately know. As soon as I say, “Hi, this is Pastor Douthwaite,” they interrupt and say, “You know we were just talking about you, and we were just talking about how we need to get back to church, and even though we’ll be out of town this weekend, we’ll be there the following Sunday.” All in one breath. A scripted response. They know exactly what to say. At least they think that’s what I want to hear.

Even though all of our members promise that they will remain faithful to the church, even to the point of death, from my experience there are always a few families that haven’t attended in over a year, and that includes Christmas and Easter. Even if they begin to attend or their names are taken off the membership rolls, other families will take their place. I’ve concluded that this is just part of the nature of the church.

Of course, in some of these conversations, I learn why people don’t go to their church. They travel. They or their children are sick. They have guests from out of town staying in their homes. They worked a lot over the past week and are too tired. They were re-tiling their floors. There was a soccer (or baseball or football) game. They had a rough week. Imagine using all those excuses for not going in to work. I imagine you wouldn’t have that job very long.

Reasons for not attending I never hear are, “We don’t like you or your church. We disagree with what you believe. We aren’t getting anything out of your sermons. We don’t like the music.” Could it be that most people join a church without any intent of actually attending on a regular basis? Perhaps we do not clearly express this expectation.

Posted in Ministry

A lack of leaders

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It’s that time of year when our congregation has to nominate leaders to serve in the coming year.  With nearly two hundred active families, you wouldn’t think it would be so hard to come up with two dozen or so leaders that comprise a church council, board of elders, and a church properties committee.  Yet every fall, we come up short.  I know we’re not the only church that struggles with this challenge.  The basic mood seems to be “I’ll help out, but I don’t want to be in a position of leadership.”

When did leadership become something to avoid?  Granted, not everyone is cut out or qualified for leadership.  But many with those gifts hesitate to step into leadership positions in the church and probably in many volunteer organizations.

Some of it has to do with the consumer mentality that some bring to church with them.  Just as they stop by a restaurant for a meal, they stop by the church for a spiritual meal.  It would never occur to them to actually work there, though.

Some of it must be fear, the fear of having to do it all yourself.  This isn’t a rational fear, for each leader is supposed to recruit a board or committee to carry out different ministries.  No one should be doing it themselves.

Some of it has to do with the retirement state of mind in our area.  They did these jobs when they lived elsewhere.  Now that they’ve retired, someone else can do this work.  “I’m retired.”

When Jesus called disciples, he really didn’t give them a choice.  He gave them authority.  He gave them power from above.  And he sent them out.   Have at it.  Make more disciples.

Having said that, maybe that’s where we fall short.  Perhaps we make more members than disciples.  I have to think about this some more.

Posted in Ministry

What numbers are important?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

numbers1250985368So here’s my question today:  what numbers are important?  We love to talk numbers at church.  Unfortunately, most of them mean very little.

“How big is your congregation?”  I can tell them.  Sort of.  We keep track of our membership.  But we have a good number of people who attend worship on a regular basis who aren’t members.  Then we have those members who for whatever reason don’t attend worship.  Plus, some people are only here part of the year.  What number would you like me to use?

“OK, then how many do you have in worship?”  We keep track of that, too, at least an average number for each Sunday.  However, most people seem to attend worship about twice a month, so no one week gives an accurate picture.  A few years ago we had zero in worship on a Sunday when a hurricane was passing through town.  Do I have to count that week in my average?  On Easter Sunday, our attendance is double what it normally is.  Should I factor in that week?  What number should we use, and what does it tell us?

“Show me the money.”  How are our offerings doing?  It depends on the week.  Are we paying our bills?  Yes.  Could we use more?  Of course.  Do we support missions?  Yup.  Our monthly financial report is over 15 pages long, a literal sea of numbers that sucks you in like a rip current.  They never taught me how to interpret that at the seminary.  I can read some New Testament Greek, though.

“How many lives have been changed?”  No way to tell.  Everyone who worships here may be out affecting other lives where they live and work and study.  I am certain their prayers make a difference in the lives of many, too.

In the initial years of my ministry, numbers meant a lot.  My level of confidence rode the peaks and troughs of attendance, offerings, and new members.  Now they don’t mean so much, probably because I’ve seen God do some of his best work in a meeting with just one other person.

Posted in Ministry

Mt. Calvary

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Last Thursday night (Feb 5), I attended one of the new sanctuary worship services at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, right next door to us.

As I arrived, I introduced myself to one of the ushers (she was dressed all in white) and she told me, “I will seat you.”  She took me right down front and sat me in the front row in the center.  I was honored.

I should mention that Mt. Calvary is an African-American congregation. I was the only caucasian in attendance that night, but that was OK.  I vicared in Baltimore, MD, and we were the token non-blacks in our neighborhood.  It brought back many good memories of that year.

This is a pretty traditional black Baptist congregation.  And I say that with great respect.  They know how to worship!  Everything the pastor said was meet with comments from the congregation.  The guest preacher was excellent, and worked from the assumption that this is God’s word and we’re going to listen to it and it’s going to do something powerful tonight.

There was always something going on.  People arriving.  Some standing, some sitting.  Some singing along, some listening.  Some setting up musicl instruments, some responding to the preacher.

I thoroughly enjoyed the two hour service and hope I’ll have the chance to worship again there soon.  They offered me a seat on the dais, but I declined, not wanting to draw too much attention to myself.  It would have  been very hard to drift off during that service.  My favorite quote from the preacher: if people  bought pews to put in their homes, they would get a pretty good night’s sleep!