I was hurt....

I experienced a harsh dose of reality yesterday. 

Much to my astonishment I discovered some people in this church (who I believed we were actually helping to pursue a genuine spiritual journey, and, who I consider to be personal friends) are not interested in becoming disciples at all; they are only interested in this church being a “service provider” for them.  That is, they expect this church to provide them with all sorts of personalized services to fit their latest whim, and also expect the staff to do it all for them.  Kind of like we are a YMCA or something.

Even worse, they’ve tried to leverage their friendship to get their way. 

The real clincher?  These very same people (who are demanding so much from us) have a long-term track record of contributing nothing, absolutely nothing, to this church.

Now, they are threatening to leave.

I felt betrayed.  I was shocked, saddened, and my feelings were hurt.  And my indignation was aroused.  The disappointment was so great that I actually said out loud, “I’ve had enough of this.  I am through with the ministry.”  I genuinely wanted to quit.

For now, rather than quitting, I’m going to stand my ground and make an attempt at correcting this shallow immaturity.  With God’s help, I will clean up Pace Community Church and rid it of this kind of self-absorbed narcissism.    So let me state it for the record:

The absence of a particular ministry or program may be God’s way of getting you to grow up – to outgrow your preferences.  Maybe it’s time for you to get on board with what your church is DOING instead of expecting your church to do what you WANT.  This is called sacrificial service.

Have you even stopped to consider that this church has a bigger mission (and, btw, a more important mission) than to provide you with baby-sitting services or job counseling services?

We are not a YMCA.

(Read the post below for more elaboration in this subject, and my postion on it).