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Kentucky church revokes memberships for nonattendance Associated PressJuly 19, 2018 — 10:30am LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky pastor is drawing criticism for kicking out members of his congregation who failed to attend church regularly and contribute.
The Rev. Ryan Broers of Cave City Baptist Church told the Lexington Herald-Leader that he notified 70 people by letter that their church membership had been revoked.
The letter said members are expected to attend church regularly and to "give regularly" to its support.
The newspaper reported that some congregants were upset. Beth Gentry Carder said she stopped attending around a year ago due to work reasons. She says she no longer feels welcome at the church and has no plans to return.
Broers has been the church's senior pastor for about a year. He said the letter is part of the church's effort to rebuild.
I don't know, doesn't strike me as a good way to rebuild, but maybe others feel differently?
All churches review their membership rosters (for various planning and budgetary purposes) and usually call or send correspondence to members who haven't been attending. Sometimes church elders will visit these members. In most cases, most have moved or attend other churches, and often fail to notify the church office of their intent.
Members who have found another church home should send an email or letter to their church asking for "voluntary release" if they do not want to be members any further. But for a pastor to revoke memberships without corresponding with his congregants seems extreme.
$$$$$$
When I was young in our Catholic Church, they posted in a bulletin monthly how much each family gave to the church. Unreal.
For what it's worth...
As most of you know, I'm a pastor. And these kinds of situations can be tricky (as I know from experience). On the one hand, you don't want people to think that "being on the church rolls" = "good with God". Church is not some kind of club. On the other hand, when you're dealing with people, there are always opportunities for things to not be communicated well... or for people to refuse to listen to what's being communicated. Add on to that our inherent pride (which we all have to some degree), which doesn't like being "told no"... and you've got a potentially toxic situation. Removing people from church membership is- at times- a necessary part of the job. But it needs to be done patiently (not rushed into) and lovingly. The ultimate goal is to help people in their relationship with Christ, not put stumbling blocks up in their way.
I can tell you this, though: I would NEVER make a person's offerings part of any communications regarding removing them from the church membership rolls. In my opinion, that is dangerous- and, potentially- wrong. Yes, it is our Christian duty to give offerings to God (which, in turn, are used to support the ministries of our given church); but those are REALLY private things between that person and God. I, personally, wouldn't have anything to do with that aspect of their church membership. In fact, I've made it my personal policy to never know anything about the giving practices of any of the members of my church. I don't want to know.
We are struggling with this problem probably like every other church does. I know that our pastors biggest problem is that people don't attend church and don't want to be visited so he is unsure of their beliefs. Then they pass away and the family wants a Christen funeral where he is supposed to speak as if the deceased was a believer.
We are a small but very old church and most people are cousins or related in some way. If the family became upset the whole thing would blow up and split the church.
We have found that there is many reasons why people don't attend ranging from moving away and attending a different church (as already mentioned), work schedules, "Chreasters", to just not interested in religion.
As churches close in Minnesota, a way of life fades
La Salle, Minn. -- For 100 years, Lutherans in this farming community on the Minnesota prairie have come to one church to share life’s milestones.
They have been baptized, confirmed and married at La Salle Lutheran. Their grandparents, parents and siblings lie in the church cemetery next door.
But the old friends who gathered here early one recent Sunday never imagined that they would one day be marking the death of their own church.
When La Salle Lutheran locks its doors in August, it will become the latest casualty among fragile Minnesota churches either closing, merging or praying for a miracle. Steep drops in church attendance, aging congregations, and cultural shifts away from organized religion have left most of Minnesota’s mainline Christian denominations facing unprecedented declines.
“Sunday used to be set aside for church: that’s what families did,” said Donna Schultz, 74, a church member since grade school at La Salle, in southwest Minnesota. “Now our children have moved away. The grandkids have volleyball, dance on weekends. People are busy with other things.
“I’m really going to miss this,” she added quietly, gesturing to her friends in the lobby. “We’re like family.”
The rising toll is evident in rural, urban and suburban churches across the state.
http://www.startribune.com/as-minnesota-...486037461/
About the series This is the first in an occasional series about Christianity at a crossroads — a time of unprecedented decline in church membership and a changing future for the faith.
I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ. --Mahatma Gandhi
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ. --Mahatma Gandhi
Hence the reason we need him more than ever.
Quote: @purplefaithful said:
As churches close in Minnesota, a way of life fades
La Salle, Minn. -- For 100 years, Lutherans in this farming community on the Minnesota prairie have come to one church to share life’s milestones.
They have been baptized, confirmed and married at La Salle Lutheran. Their grandparents, parents and siblings lie in the church cemetery next door.
But the old friends who gathered here early one recent Sunday never imagined that they would one day be marking the death of their own church.
When La Salle Lutheran locks its doors in August, it will become the latest casualty among fragile Minnesota churches either closing, merging or praying for a miracle. Steep drops in church attendance, aging congregations, and cultural shifts away from organized religion have left most of Minnesota’s mainline Christian denominations facing unprecedented declines.
“Sunday used to be set aside for church: that’s what families did,” said Donna Schultz, 74, a church member since grade school at La Salle, in southwest Minnesota. “Now our children have moved away. The grandkids have volleyball, dance on weekends. People are busy with other things.
“I’m really going to miss this,” she added quietly, gesturing to her friends in the lobby. “We’re like family.”
The rising toll is evident in rural, urban and suburban churches across the state.
http://www.startribune.com/as-minnesota-...486037461/
About the series This is the first in an occasional series about Christianity at a crossroads — a time of unprecedented decline in church membership and a changing future for the faith.
One simple comment, is our society better off?
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