In the 10+ years I've worked in churches as a Youth Pastor, Assoc. Pastor, and now as the guy in the hot-seat (the Lead Pastor) the number 1 complaint that I've observed from disgruntled church members is "I'm not being fed." In every church I have served, I just don't see how this is possible. Every church I have served has numerous classes and groups available that study and discuss the scriptures. Every church I have served had a pastor who opened the scriptures in every sermon and spoke from it. If someone wants to be fed with solid spiritual food, the opportunity is there. Granted, I'm sure there are churches out there that offer fluff and frosting, but none that I have been a part of. The churches I have been a part of had other problems, but the opportunity to be fed has always been there. So every time I hear that complaint, I always try to get to what the "real problem" is. Most of the time, the "I'm not being fed" complaint is just a spiritualized cover people use when they don't want to admit that their real issue is petty and childish. But this isn't the main point of this post. I'm going to get to the main point now.
The truth is that we're always being fed. It's just what we choose as our food that affects other parts of our being. What really aggravates me is that many within the church are taking in a more steady diet of the news media than they are the Bible. Just look at financial giving to churches over the past two years. The economic news in the media has been scary. The spirit of fear has spread all over the government, the market, the banking industry, and just about every other aspect of our society. Sadly, it has spread through the church. Yes, there are many in the church who have fallen into hard times with the economic downturn and haven't been able to financially contribute to God's kingdom like they have in the past (and the church needs to be there to walk with them through these hard times). But there are also many who haven't been hit but have withheld out of fear. I had a conversation with a fellow pastor the other day who was telling me that his church was far behind their budget towards the close of 2009. In November, he proposed a catch-up Sunday where the members were challenged to go above and beyond to catch up on the church's budget. They exceeded their goal on that Sunday and closed the year with a balanced budget. He said that many came to him confessing they had the money to give and knew they should have been giving better throughout the year, but had withheld out of fear of a collapsing economy.
Another example, a couple months ago a lady came by our church office freaking-out about the proposed health care bill being passed through Congress. She was talking gloom-and-doom over this bill and felt that I as the church's pastor needed to drop everything we were doing and call the church to pray about this. Yes, I do agree that we need to pray for our nation's leaders and that they will look to God for the wisdom to make the right decisions. But this particular lady was buying into and spreading fear that she had heard in the news.
Have we forgotten that God is on his throne? Does it not occur to us that the economic situation in our world didn't catch God off-guard? Does it not occur to us that God is well aware of the health-care bill being discussed in Congress? Just from reading our Bibles, we should be very conscious of the fact that God prevails. He has a plan through all of this and last time I checked, he intends to include the church in his plan.
But he can't use us if we buy into and spread fear. When we start serving fear, then we are serving Satan.
It's all about what we go to as our main source of food. Is it what CNN say, FoxNews says, Glenn Beck says, Keith Olbermann says, or is it what God says. Those of us in the church should know it's what God says, but is that really what we feast on?
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An elderly preacher once said that every sermon is for somebody. It might not be for everybody...it might not be for you personally...but somebody present needed to hear it. And another older preacher once told me that when young he used to get upset when he heard a sermon where he didn't agree with everything said. Then he learned to listen - take the parts that blessed him - say amen and let the rest of it go without getting upset. And there are a lot of other preconceived reasons why people feel like they're not being fed. Ever notice that in a lot of the Christian fiction books the story has a hero who is either a pastor or member of a small 'poor but humble' church? Some people feel they can't be fed if the church is too big or the people too well dressed. Or just the opposite. Several years ago - and maybe still - some preachers really stretched themselves, preaching the same sermon but to two different congregations on Sunday mornings. One traditional and one for the more casual, laid back crowd. Thats good but for either group to say it has to be one way or the other for them to get something out of the sermon I think misses the point. Oh, well, just some of my thoughts. I talk too much.
ReplyDeleteJeff, I am always amazed at people who think that it's the pastor's job to spoon feed them on Sunday morning all the Word that they need for each week. They would think it ridiculous if it was suggested they only eat food once a week. And then, only if someone else decided what that food would be, spent the time buying and preparing it and lastly, spooning the food into their mouth for them. We are each responsible to the Lord for the amount of time we spend in the Word and prayer. If we are hungry it's because we should be ... we didn't pull up to the table prepared for us and eat!
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