A great church
Occasionally I'm reminded how fortunate I am to be a pastor in a good church. Aside from the first Church I was on staff with, I have been incredibly fortunate to be in churches that showed love to the pastor and pastor's family. Baptist Temple, in Alexandria, VA and now the International Church of Bangkok are both wonderful places to be in ministry. Not that either church is doing all the things I want it to. Not that we are fullfiling our potential. Not that we agree on everything. But in both places, I've had the good fortune of really being loved! This is a genuine gift from God and the way churches ought to be.
Today when I went to church with my son while my wife and daughter stayed home (they've only been home from the hospital now for 1 day), the genuine warmth was beautiful. Almost everyone went out of their way to express their joy at our joy. We even had visitors from Macau who offered their congratulations.
I wouldn't mention this, but I've been around so many pastors who are in a more contentious relationship with their churches. The first church I served (which shall remain nameless) is at it again with their "new" pastor. Ironically, it's the same ring leader leading the charge against her that led the charge against the Senior Minister when I was there. This is such a shame. It pushes newcomers (many of whom are spiritual seekers) away from church and it damages the people who are already there.
I read an interesting post on Monday Morning Insight recently about a site called WolfWarning. WolfWarning is a pastor's site where pastor's warn other pastors about wolves in congregations. I haven't been able to get the site to come up and I assume this is a joke; however, it's a shame that the church and its clergy are in such a horrible state that a whole website (or joke about one) is dedicated to clergy "warning" one another about parishoners.
So let me just say unequivically - my church is fantastic. And I thank God regularly for it.
Today when I went to church with my son while my wife and daughter stayed home (they've only been home from the hospital now for 1 day), the genuine warmth was beautiful. Almost everyone went out of their way to express their joy at our joy. We even had visitors from Macau who offered their congratulations.
I wouldn't mention this, but I've been around so many pastors who are in a more contentious relationship with their churches. The first church I served (which shall remain nameless) is at it again with their "new" pastor. Ironically, it's the same ring leader leading the charge against her that led the charge against the Senior Minister when I was there. This is such a shame. It pushes newcomers (many of whom are spiritual seekers) away from church and it damages the people who are already there.
I read an interesting post on Monday Morning Insight recently about a site called WolfWarning. WolfWarning is a pastor's site where pastor's warn other pastors about wolves in congregations. I haven't been able to get the site to come up and I assume this is a joke; however, it's a shame that the church and its clergy are in such a horrible state that a whole website (or joke about one) is dedicated to clergy "warning" one another about parishoners.
So let me just say unequivically - my church is fantastic. And I thank God regularly for it.
