Why go to church?

[alpharaposa]

There was a story I read a while back that just about sums it up.

A fellow stopped going to church. He said he didn't need it, could worship on his own just fine. His friends and family all tried to get him to come back.

Finally, the pastor went to visit him. The fellow had a fire going in the fireplace. The pastor didn't say much, just went to the fire and used the tongs to pull out a single coal and place it on its own away from the rest.

The coal cooled and died.

The pastor returned it to the rest of the coals, where it brightened and caught fire once again.

The fellow thanked the pastor for his fiery sermon and promised to come to church again the next Sunday.

Who you spend time with affects who you become.

Comments

[erin stewart hill (from livejournal.com)]

What a lovely story!

[eric-hinkle.livejournal.com]

True, but I should add, if the church you've been going to suddenly and drastically changes then continuing to go there because it's "tradition" might be worse than not going at all. Not aimed at you, more a comment on some things done at my church in recent years.

But thanks for sharing that story; it's very effective.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

While I was growing up, my dad was assigned to not one, but two "Clergy Killer" churches. There are some nasty surprises out there.

All this doesn't change the very real need to be around other Christians. I could feel myself getting rusty and even losing some of my more generous impulses the longer I spent not going to any kind of church.

[eric-hinkle.livejournal.com]

"Clergy killer" churches?

[stryck.livejournal.com]

"Clergy killer" churches are those churches where the power struggles and dysfunctions of the laity are so bad, that most ministers retire or lose their faith altogether after pastoring them, burned out. The first one, I was too young to really understand what was going on. The second one, I tried to get involved with some of the church program and managed to get simultaneously used and shut out.

[eric-hinkle.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I thought that was what it meant but hoped I was wrong. Sadly, I know of at least one preacher on my friend list who's stuck ministering for not just one but two of them a once.

I hope you father got out okay.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

The analogy doesn't work for Catholics, sadly. I'm the only Catholic I know and I attend church by myself week after week.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

There are no other Catholics at your church?

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

Of course, but it's a different experience. This is something that often sends Catholics into the Protestant churches, because the community experience is more prominent.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are cold and even actively hostile churches on the Protestant side, too. That's the reason why I attend the church that I attend, and not the one that's closest to me.

Churches should be places that welcome, nurture, and teach discipleship, no matter the denomination.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

Very true. Mind you, I'm sort of a "special needs" churchgoer in that I'm not sure I believe, but I keep going to church and reading the Bible anyway.