dear church...

i recently read 2 thought provoking posts (along with their thought-provoking comments). one from jeff noble entitled "how long do you plan to be at your church?" explores the comings and goings of church members. the other post, from tj scott, entitled "choose who you will lose" discusses the differences among local bodies of believers, and the choices available to individual worshipers based at least in part on style of ministry. both link to posts from over at monday morning insight that are also well worth the read. and dont forget to weigh in with your comments on all three blogs (and here too!)... everyone's thoughts and opinions matter and can make a difference!

after you've read all that (if you havent already), i'd like to direct your attention to what might be considered the flip-side to this discussion. there are plenty of stats and surveys out there that attempt to give us a better understanding of the behaviors and habits of church goers and former church goers, but as i was perusing youth specialties president Mark Oestreicher's blog last night, i came across this amazing website: letters from leavers. its run by a couple of fuller seminary students, and its a place for folks who have left their church (and in many cases left THE Church), to basically write a "dear john" letter. all of the survey results in the world wont give the kind of insight that you'll find reading these letters. some writers are angry, some are hurt, some feel that they've been shunned or disregarded by staff, some feel they've been deceived either by their pastors or by the very tenets of Christianity itself. in any event, this is a must-see for church leaders and members alike (and while there are a series of survey questions that follow each letter, they come across in a more personal and individualized context when attached to each letter, rather than just analyzed as an anonymous group of responses to questions not fleshed out by the relating of personal experiences).

hopefully, reading these stories will give us new eyes and ears and hearts for those precious folks who sit in the pew next to us and may be struggling with that age-old question, which isnt just about church membership, but life itself: "WHY AM I HERE?"