Good morning. It’s
Thursday morning!
Well, we got one of “those” notes this past Sunday from who
we think is one of our members. It was
one of notes that sometimes comes when someone is unhappy about a decision that
was made on behalf of the congregation.
This particular decision is regarding some upgrades and maintenance
projects that we need to complete. We’ve
told the congregation about them and have told our members that if they would
like to contribute to the cost of the upgrades and maintenance over and above
their normal contributions, we would certainly appreciate any help they could
give.
I won’t tell you the exact words in the note, but the gist
of it was that these things are not needs, but rather wants. The writer wondered why we didn’t instead
spend those funds on gospel meetings, door knocking, prison ministry, homeless
outreach, and other endeavors.
And, of course, it was an unsigned note.
Well, I won’t go in to all of the ministries the church is
involved with…everything from feeding the homeless to mentoring in the public
schools, along with providing support for and volunteering at a local home for
troubled teen and pre-teen girls. I am
gratified at all of the outreach, work, and support by our members in the name
of Jesus Christ in the Wichita area as well as world wide through various
missions points ranging from Cambodia to India, Africa, South America, Russia
and others. No, we are not perfect. But I believe we have in general a heart for people
and a love for Jesus Christ and His good news which we willingly share whenever
given the chance.
Notes such as this, along with accusations, criticisms, and
other such which come to me unsigned are in my mind worthy of nothing more than
the paper they are written on. I
remember back to an older man who since has gone to his reward, who was a
long-time member of this congregation. A
businessman, Bob was very polite and also very astute. Whenever some kind of thing such as this came
his way, he would say, “I’ll give this all the consideration it deserves,” and
promptly would toss it away and forget it.
I will do the same with this unsigned criticism.
What the writer doesn’t know is that our Elder board and
staff have wrestled with many of these issues for over three years. We’ve discussed, thought about, prayed for,
and did our best to come up with the most cost-effective and best projects that
were most needed in order to operate a church ministry in the middle of
downtown Wichita. We have done nothing
flippantly or quickly. The bureaucracy
has moved very, very slowly sometimes in these last years. We believe we have done the best we could do,
asking for the hand of God to guide us all along the way. We have no second thoughts about our actions
and decisions.
If the writer of the note, or anyone for that matter, wishes
to do one of the ministries mentioned in the note…organize another homeless
ministry, get a door-knocking campaign together…or do it himself…organize a
gospel meeting, start a prison ministry, or one of any number of outreaches, he
or she is free to do so. And we the
church will support them in their endeavors.
We always have supported volunteers who wish to be part of an outreach,
and we will continue to do so.
Meanwhile, we will continue on the path we believe God has chosen for us
as a congregation, taking care to do so with sober judgment and due diligence.
We will always, it seems, occasionally have to deal with
anonymous writers of notes which are critical and have no purpose other than to
make the writer somehow feel better or, dare I say, superior in some way. We will, however, continue to give such
anonymous notes and criticisms “all the consideration they deserve.”
Blessings,
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