We had a preacher who had 3 children when he was here. They moved away and now have either 5 or 6 (I'm old; my memory is terrible). Every time someone mentioned that they had a new baby, I would get the negative comments and looks. It is so disheartening. Christians?
It is disheartening to hear this from fellow Christians, but this is NOTHING like what the world thinks of us that have larger families…
I remember in Walmart we walked past an older lady in a motorized cart. She stopped her cart, counted my children, and then proceeded to tell me she would “rather die than have that many kids”… 😐😵 hmmm really… I’m sure her name was “Karen” and she was a very unhappy person…
This is what happens when you don’t have Jesus in your life. That was quite the lesson… there are Christian lessons all around us… 😊😉
My wife and I have four and one on the way. Refreshingly, we were recently stopped by an older lady who looked at us and said: "I wish I had more children." Don't hear that very often. Usually, it's "you have your hands full." (I want to say, "Yes, hands full of blessings!")
The loss of members is a process that started a long time ago in Western Europe. For a long time, "we" were concerned that God would no longer be a welcome topic of conversation, let alone conversion.
And yet: now, about 3 decades later, "we" see a slow return of people looking and even longing for God. The US is following that same track. People can only live a limitted time without bounderies and such.
Congregations in our stateare "dying..." but a lot of that is related to kids moving out of state for their education - and not coming back. At times we have somewhat of an influx of college age kids, but they, too, will leave when education is complete. We are an agricultural state...
So the loss of congregations is not directly the result of lessened spirituality. Our congregation has an average age of about 50-ish. Big on the old timers (60+), not so many in-betweens, but a fairly solid group between 22-30. A congregation just 20 miles away has "shrunk" from 100+ to 5... Some because of doctrinal differences.
A congregation in one of smaller towns in the state (Of which we have a lot!) is from the non-cooperative background. They went from about 50-60 to an average 100 each week. One reason is the fact that they plan two gospel meetings a year, have a very strong presence in the different parades in town, a slot at the "market" each Labor day weekend. Elders are well-known in town, and actualy "eld," leaving the material management to the deacons. So that is encouraging!
Another congregation closed their doors last year - after an almost 100 yr presence. Rural town. Most inhabitants left are too old to move. Sad... But that happens in many rural areas.
I am excited to see how people are getting reacquinted with spiritual things!
So many people asked us the same question… We have six children, and it was always the same… “You do know what causes that?!” Uh, yeah, duh… 😑
Completely agree with the assessment of stagnation is killing us… so many of our little churches are going to the wayside… 😢🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
We had a preacher who had 3 children when he was here. They moved away and now have either 5 or 6 (I'm old; my memory is terrible). Every time someone mentioned that they had a new baby, I would get the negative comments and looks. It is so disheartening. Christians?
It is disheartening to hear this from fellow Christians, but this is NOTHING like what the world thinks of us that have larger families…
I remember in Walmart we walked past an older lady in a motorized cart. She stopped her cart, counted my children, and then proceeded to tell me she would “rather die than have that many kids”… 😐😵 hmmm really… I’m sure her name was “Karen” and she was a very unhappy person…
This is what happens when you don’t have Jesus in your life. That was quite the lesson… there are Christian lessons all around us… 😊😉
My wife and I have four and one on the way. Refreshingly, we were recently stopped by an older lady who looked at us and said: "I wish I had more children." Don't hear that very often. Usually, it's "you have your hands full." (I want to say, "Yes, hands full of blessings!")
Excellent, as always!
Thank you!
Several things...
The loss of members is a process that started a long time ago in Western Europe. For a long time, "we" were concerned that God would no longer be a welcome topic of conversation, let alone conversion.
And yet: now, about 3 decades later, "we" see a slow return of people looking and even longing for God. The US is following that same track. People can only live a limitted time without bounderies and such.
Congregations in our stateare "dying..." but a lot of that is related to kids moving out of state for their education - and not coming back. At times we have somewhat of an influx of college age kids, but they, too, will leave when education is complete. We are an agricultural state...
So the loss of congregations is not directly the result of lessened spirituality. Our congregation has an average age of about 50-ish. Big on the old timers (60+), not so many in-betweens, but a fairly solid group between 22-30. A congregation just 20 miles away has "shrunk" from 100+ to 5... Some because of doctrinal differences.
A congregation in one of smaller towns in the state (Of which we have a lot!) is from the non-cooperative background. They went from about 50-60 to an average 100 each week. One reason is the fact that they plan two gospel meetings a year, have a very strong presence in the different parades in town, a slot at the "market" each Labor day weekend. Elders are well-known in town, and actualy "eld," leaving the material management to the deacons. So that is encouraging!
Another congregation closed their doors last year - after an almost 100 yr presence. Rural town. Most inhabitants left are too old to move. Sad... But that happens in many rural areas.
I am excited to see how people are getting reacquinted with spiritual things!
That’s interesting about that active church. Encouraging to hear that.