On a Dying Church

I visited with a Pastor the other day and I started the conversation with a passage that I read in a book, which stated that the Church was there to equip its members to be radical aggressive warriors, however that most churches no longer were like that and this was the reason the modern church was dying as an organization.

I wondered why.

And it came to me that without a strong encouraged Pastor equipping would never happen, so I thot I would put my concerns to the test and ask a Pastor a few elementary starter questions and I stated that he shouldn't answer until I was finished

So I asked a pastor...

1. When is the last time an Elder at the church, simply called on you to shoot the breeze?

2. Take you for an impromptu lunch or dinner just because...?

3. Hey lets go golfing, its sunny out or if you ride a motorcycle, ride?

4. Stop off at your house just to see how your day went?

5. Just call you to encourage you, take you to a soccer game?

Ordinary stuff friends, colleagues would do, (because pastor and elder mean the same thing. Ergo they are colleagues) and my answer to the Pastor was, I bet the answer would be NEVER, but before you answer them I have a few more questions.

6. when is it an elder told you to beef up your sermons?

7. Get an exciting program going at church?

8. Make yourself more available at church, go visit more sick and elderly people.

9. Look more professional up front?

10. You need to.... whatever?

My answer is probably at each Elders meeting and a few times in between, to which He agreed to all of the above. I wasn't surprised.

He asked me how I knew, to which I answered

1. I have grown up in the church.

2. I have served on almost every conceivable committee devised.

3. I am friends with most pastors.

4. I actually do, do all of the positive building stuff in questions 1 - 5.

5. I stopped years ago doing the negative 6 - 10. (It never works)

5. Other Pastors have told me as much

6. I know the program. I've been there.

The entire time I was asking this Pastor these questions I truly was feeling bad for the Guy. I could see his distress.

One of my last questions was, "Why are you still at this church, with all of this crap, no positive encouragement and reinforcement. I think right about now you feel like quitting. Are you here because you feel God called you here? He said "Yes" to the last question (rhetorical as it was), to the other questions his answer was painted in his eyes.

I told him the reason I was still at this church, God had called me there, even tho the Elders didn't give me much encouragement either, even ran interference.

Plus I was there to watch the Pastors back.

So I ended our discussion by going  back to my opening comment, "the Church was there to equip its members to be radical aggressive warriors, however that most churches no longer were like that and this was the reason the modern church was dying as an organization."

...then I took him out for Lunch.

 I figure that the Elders should be a Pastors very best friends at a Church, "No" to questions 1 -5 and "Yes" to 6 - 10, means the Elders are not being very encouraging to the Pastor and as a result not being very good friends, and one asks why our churches are dying?

 

But then again this is only my opinion