Michael
09-20-2004, 10:00 PM
Sunday afternoon I went out for coffee with my wife. We went to a Starbucks on a hill overlooking the valley in which we live. We got our lattes to go and sat in our car watching the clouds blow above the valley. It was very beautiful.
We had a wonderful conversation. We have both been struggling with our feelings of disconnectedness at our current church. It's big, not a megachurch by any means, about 800 on a Sunday, if your count the attendance of all three services. We've been going there for seven years but really have no close friends despite attemtps to connect. It feel strange and lonely. Part of the problem is that we live 25-30 minutes from the church. It is not a neighborhood church for us.
This has been a real obstacle for my boys connecting. Most of the kids there are in school together and already have friendships. My boys, although they do have friends there, are not very connected. Part of the reason we started going there seven years ago (my boys are 17 and 14) is because at the time we thought they had a strong youth program. But the church experience is virtually innoculating my boys against church.
And it's not just the fact that they are teenaged boys. They really like going to our church's daughter church. And, my oldest son says that when he finally gets his license that he will start looking for his own church. The fact that he wants to find his own church says a lot to me.
So my wife and I prayed that God would direct us. It almost embarassing to admit that we really haven't done that before. We've just griped. Then we went home and I told our boys what we were praying about. I made it clear that we were not praying that God would direct us to a new church, but that God would direct us. He may tell us to stay where we are. The point I wanted to stress with them is that we really wanted to seek God's direction on this very important matter.
I explained to my boys that I thought they might actually get more out of going to the daughter church because they actually listen to the sermons and think about them there. But I said I really wasn't sure how much value they might be missing from their current Sunday School if we did leave.
So, it was a really good time with my wife. Another time of connection because of a mutual desire to seek more of Christ. Something's happening even if I am struggling with my willingness to surrender to Him. He is at work, and if I ask Him to make me willing, He will hear my prayer.
In His Grace,
Michael
We had a wonderful conversation. We have both been struggling with our feelings of disconnectedness at our current church. It's big, not a megachurch by any means, about 800 on a Sunday, if your count the attendance of all three services. We've been going there for seven years but really have no close friends despite attemtps to connect. It feel strange and lonely. Part of the problem is that we live 25-30 minutes from the church. It is not a neighborhood church for us.
This has been a real obstacle for my boys connecting. Most of the kids there are in school together and already have friendships. My boys, although they do have friends there, are not very connected. Part of the reason we started going there seven years ago (my boys are 17 and 14) is because at the time we thought they had a strong youth program. But the church experience is virtually innoculating my boys against church.
And it's not just the fact that they are teenaged boys. They really like going to our church's daughter church. And, my oldest son says that when he finally gets his license that he will start looking for his own church. The fact that he wants to find his own church says a lot to me.
So my wife and I prayed that God would direct us. It almost embarassing to admit that we really haven't done that before. We've just griped. Then we went home and I told our boys what we were praying about. I made it clear that we were not praying that God would direct us to a new church, but that God would direct us. He may tell us to stay where we are. The point I wanted to stress with them is that we really wanted to seek God's direction on this very important matter.
I explained to my boys that I thought they might actually get more out of going to the daughter church because they actually listen to the sermons and think about them there. But I said I really wasn't sure how much value they might be missing from their current Sunday School if we did leave.
So, it was a really good time with my wife. Another time of connection because of a mutual desire to seek more of Christ. Something's happening even if I am struggling with my willingness to surrender to Him. He is at work, and if I ask Him to make me willing, He will hear my prayer.
In His Grace,
Michael