I am relatively new to Christianity, only being in the Lord for 2 years. I know there are a lot of things I don't know yet, but I do know where I come from religion/church wise and the reason we left that is because we don't want to be in that anymore. I'm not sure what has been going on lately, but my oh my, some of the things we saw in our old church environment are in our new church environment!
One big problem we had with our former religion was being pressured to attend church and commit to a ton of volunteer church activities. We are regular attenders, but things in life do come up. For instance, my dad is cleaning out my Grandma's house in preparation to sell it. He is doing it alone and the only day he does it is on Sunday afternoon. We attend Sunday morning service, but have been missing Sunday evening Bible study to help my Dad. He is 62 years old and needs help with this right now. Another church member actually made a comment to me in a sassy tone about us not taking church serious enough. My son had soccer practice tonight and this member actually told my 11 year old he is choosing sports over God. I was furious! This woman does NOT know my family's heart and to me is the very reason churches get a bad name.
This same member told me the women of the church are pretty much unhappy with me because I don't leave the service to volunteer in the nursery downstairs. I don't use the nursery and never would. Plus, my little girl is 7 and needs assistance looking things up in her Bible while the service is going on. I have NO problem telling them that my first and foremost ministry is my family. My idol is God, not my church. I am so discouraged right now, I am actually thinking about looking for another church. What do I do?
Another issue is some serious lack of etiquette and appropriate play among the children at our church. I have had my 7 year old little girl come to me shocked and crying that other little girls were peeking over the stall at her while she was using the bathroom. I told the mom of these girls and she giggled and said, "Gee, I never thought I'd have to cover that topic".
My son, who is 11 years old is constantly being bullied by girls his age at church. The parents say "oh they are just flirting." What ?! This is church, not a meat market. UGH! SO FRUSTRATING!
Church can be so frustrating at times.... But remember it is filled with very fallible people. We have church shopped and find a lot of similarities with them. I wouldn't put to much stock in what other members think of you and your personal commitments. Your life is between you and God. A lot of times people are well meaning but they leave us feeling like we are always doing something wrong. Or we are not commited. The wonderful thing about the gathering of the saints is that you gain knowledge, you are edified, and built up...Don't give up. Keep plugging along. Searching for truth. Try to find a good sound church that sticks closely to scriptural teaching and let the rest of the chips fall where they may. When you know you are doing your job, you don't have to worry about what others think of you. God loves you and He is always there for you.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Amy Jo
I totally agree with you. I have been a preachers wife 42 years and as I have gotten older have not been able to keep up the pace with all that busy stuff. I had to take 2 months away from home to look after my mother and get her in a new place. I have missed a lot of the evening services simply because I was just too tired! I turn into a pumpkin after 5. O'clock pm. Some people just have more stamina than others and I feel everyone has a different way of serving in the church. As long as we remember to assemble on the lords day i feel that is adequate
ReplyDeleteA lot of our elderly members cant possibly attend all the activities and will not go anywhere at night. I understand that. We have to let people alone and let them make their own decisions about how much extra church things they. An take on. Serving your family is she you are needed, such as care for the elderly, is also the Lords work.
Hey Tricia, I had some thoughts on this. You will always find that no church is perfect - I haven't found one! There are always going to be people that say things, do things and all that but the way I look at it is this. If the church is preaching right, the leaders are living right, then everything else is things you just have to put up with and try to keep the peace - as the Bible says...IF it be possible LOL.
ReplyDeleteSatan puts his wolves in every church and he will even use Christians that aren't right with God or whatever to bring other Christians distress. If there was a church where none of this happened then I would doubt if that church was preaching the truth because if they were - there would be the devil fighting!!
It is a fight and if we never had those situations, live would be rosy but there is no such thing as a drama-free life - everyone deals with things, especially in the church.
I could go on for pages about what people have said and done to me and my family and what they "think" of us, even at my church! I found that those that did the most gossip, eventually left my church and God altogether and are back in sin now. It took years but they eventually couldn't wear the mask anymore.
You are doing the right thing from what I read - just keep being an example and doing what you feel is best for your family before God. You only have to answer to GOD - nobody else!!