I am one of the ladies in charge of the women's group at our tiny church. We scheduled a spring outing today....A Mad Hatter Luncheon on the first day of Spring. (Believe it or not, I didn't come up with this idea.) We are all dressing up in our hats and going to a cafe whose proceeds benefit a group home for mentally disabled adults. I was so excited about this event that I reserved a table for 10 (I told you it's a tiny church). We filled all the seats....
....until yesterday. Two people cancelled because of a stomach flu.
....and then today, the first day of Spring, winter has decided to rear it's ugly head. It's going to rain and the wind will blow 20+ miles per hour, and the low will be 35 degrees. Our hats will be flying off our heads. We will need to trade our cute pumps for rainboots. The elderly ladies might cancel (they don't like going out in bad weather). My group of 10, then 8, has the potential to dwindle to 5 or 6 in the next 2 hours.
At times like this I ask myself, "Is God trying to tell me something?" Our small church is struggling. We are making concerted efforts to grow. We are planning events in order to get our current parishoners more active. Something always seems to happen to hamper our efforts.
Are we out of God's order? Are we focused on the wrong things? Did I not pray hard enough? Why isn't God blessing this effort? Is this just Satan working his ways against the church? or me? Should I focus on being grateful for the ladies who are able to come along?
*sigh*
5 comments:
Praying for you and your event today sweet friend!!
Relax. Things rarely go as planned and you can never, ever trust March. It's just not a dependable month.
I did a ladies Bible study once a week in the evening at my church and advertised it all over town with my cell number. It brought in several women, some of whom joined the church with their families.
Also, we did a big yearly yard sale...advertised beforehand that we were taking donations and then papered the town with flyers. Everybody who came to sale got some information on our church and the ministries we offered. The community came to look forward to these yearly sales and we had more first-time visitors to our church because of it than because of anything else we did. It helped for people in the community just to get acquainted with the people of the church in a very casual setting...no pressure, you know?
Just some ideas...I know every church and every community is SO different. It's good to know the needs of the area and then try and do things to meet them.
I'm praying for you and your church. Hope your luncheon went well.
-FringeGirl
That kind of trouble has the devil's finger prints ALL over it. Messing things up, it's just what he does.
I would just focus on the ones who were able to come, because they were the ones the Lord brought to you. God can work ALL things together for His good. Bad weather and all.
Maybe the dynamics of a small table will cause the conversation to be more authentic and meaningful.
He maketh no mistakes!
Well I am glad I was able to make it and had a wonderful time! It is hard being part of a small church. When a couple people aren't able to come for whatever reason, it seems like no one is there! When one person gets sick, suddenly half the church is! But it also comes with blessings - we are able to better know each other and support each other. When you come to church people know your name and care about how you are doing and how your week was. We can be a closer knit community. Sometimes it can be frustrating, especially when people in larger churches are having big wild fun events. But God has not called us to that, he has called us to our church, for a purpose. And I would say you are doing a great job of serving yours there! It was a wonderful time, don't be down on yourself!
Girl, I know exactly how you fee. This post would into quite a lengthy explanation and I don't have that kind of energy.
I've come to this realization ... People are going to do what people are want to do. No amount of coaxing is going to change things. Only God can move on someone's heart. I am only accountable for my actions not theirs.
Sometimes I feel like I live my life trying to convince ladies to come to stuff. I'm done with that. If you want to come, come. If not, you're the one missing out.
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