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UAHparrothead wrote:However, we had some success inviting kids from the community to VBS by going door to door, but I think the intrusion was limited. It seems to me in reading yours and HockeyMon's response that motive plays an important role. If you are genuinely interested in how I doing then stop by but just for a little while, but if you just want another number at church then don't even try it. Is that a fair synopsis?

Yeah, I'd say so.

UAHparrothead wrote:BTW HockeyMon, I am in southern, middle Tennessee

Right, I thought you were around there. If I'm ever in Tennessee, I'll look you up.

UAHparrothead wrote:

ph4ever wrote:

UAHparrothead wrote:

Hockey Mon wrote:My advice would be to stop coming to my house and trying to convert me. I like my religion and am not interested in yours. I realize that this is contrary to what the Church believes and I doubt the Church leadership is going to say "you know, we should really stop this because it offends some people". But, you asked.

There are some good points made by other folks here.

This brings up a good point. I am curious about home visitations. Would you consider it a waste of time completely even if the purpose was to get to know the people in the community and not just conversion? Is there any point where a home visitation would be welcome?

Ok you didn't ask me but I gotta weigh in here

I dont' think today's society would be as open to having home visitation for several reasons. We've become a very rushed society and our time is precious. Whatever time I have at home is MY time and I don't want anyone to intrude on MY time unless I ask them to come. We're very cautious, and rightfully so, about letting strangers into our homes.

I've had people that did do home visitations become pests with all their return visits. I never let them into the house, I never stood outside and talked to them for a long time and I explained to them that I simply didn't agree with some of their denominations doctrine. I also told them I was going through chemo and really didn't feel like visitors. They just kept on coming again and again and again. The only thing that stopped them from coming was my starting work.

I lean much more to you way of thinking. My house is usually a mess anyway and I would be embarrassed to have anyone come inside my house and I get the vibe that most people are like me. However, we had some success inviting kids from the community to VBS by going door to door, but I think the intrusion was limited. It seems to me in reading yours and HockeyMon's response that motive plays an important role. If you are genuinely interested in how I doing then stop by but just for a little while, but if you just want another number at church then don't even try it. Is that a fair synopsis?

BTW HockeyMon, I am in southern, middle Tennessee

It's a pretty fair synopsis but not 100% accurate. I personally wouldn't mind someone dropping off maybe a flyer for their church but to stay to witness to me - no thanks. To want to come in and discuss the Bible with me - no thanks. As far as if you are genuinely interested - well maybe. You see I do believe the people that continued to come by after I told them I was on chemo were interested however I just wanted to yell "what part of I don't feel like having company, coming to the door and standing outside do you not understand?" Perhaps instead of continuing to come by they would have left phone numbers and if I needed anything, even if it's just to be included in a prayer list would have been better.

I'm part of a church that is pretty active and (I think) well thought of in our small community. I think a lot of the reason for that is that our members actively DO things to serve without being preachy about it.

We run Upward youth basketball and soccer leagues and no one is ever turned away because they can't pay or because we're "full." When there's a funeral of a member (or non-member who came sometimes) our folks provide lunch. We give to the food pantry, help folks move sometimes, organize blood drives, hold rummage sales to help someone in need, and just try to be good neighbors - you know, help those who need it.

And no, it's not one of those "mega-churches." We've only got about 200 members total.

So, I guess that's what I'd suggest. The CHURCH probably needs to DO more and maybe talk less.

People put a lot more stock in what you do than what you say....

Yeah, NO home visits. People dislike having their sanctuary disturbed. Just have church members be good examples of loving, kind, happy, helpful people. No brow-beating. No telling people they're going to hell (or NOT going to Heaven) because they aren't in the correct religion. My son went to a church once that said only THEY would go to Heaven. He eventually left that church.

On the part of visitations, this is what our church is starting this week, their seems to be a real excitement and buzz around our county and it does not "invade your space" I am not advertising for my church, but feel free to join us if you are in the area or you can join live Sunday morning at http://www.cbcwebcampus.com

Community Bible Church is hosting 'Community 2 Community' (C2C) neighborhood block parties all over Henry county! Don't miss the party in your area for food, music and a lot of fun! Following the parties, you will have an opportunity to participate in a service project to help make a difference in your community. Our goal is to have some fun and support our communities. For more info, visit http://www.communitybiblechurch.com.

Some thoughts.....

First -- relevance. Find a way to be relevant in today's world. It seems in many ways, the church still operates as if was 1920 or 1930. It doesn't seem to offer people many real solutions for the difficulties they faced in today's world -- the single mom working 2 jobs, the kid who is beat up at school every day because he acts "gay", how to handle your kids on the internet, etc., etc. I'm sure the folks on the boards can come up with a million examples of modern problems where the church seems to just blow by the issue. Many folks ignore the church because they don't see how it relates to their everyday life.

Second -- mission. I know some folks have already touched on it, so I'll just add my voice. While I know that jesus as recorded in the scriptures rocked the political structure of his time (at least the local political structure), his message wasn't largely political. While I see the church in the news a lot talking about how evil one group or the other is, or how a particular political candidate is going to bring about the apocalypse, or those kinds of things, I don't see a lot of church and or church folks who are exceptionally active in providing blankets to those who are cold, or food the hungry, or care to the sick. The church seems to think that it's social message and mission has been delegated to the government through taxes. It would seem that if the church spent more time showing folks how to live rather than telling them how to live, they might have a larger impact.

Oh...and stand up to those church folks that aren't upholding the mission of the church. There's nothing worse that when someone is doing something that is just patently non-jesuslike (think of the Kansas folks who visit funerals to protest) to have the rest of the church just silently sit by. Stand up and say "they don't speak for us."