Topics:<\/b> Apathy; Church Involvement; Complacency; Devotion; Faith and Works; Giving; Indifference; Sanctification; Service; Spiritual Formation; Spiritual Growth<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Matthew 18:15\u201316; Romans 12:6\u20138, 11; Ephesians 4:11\u201316; 1 Timothy 3:10; Revelation 3:15\u201316<\/p>\n
Julie and Bob Clark were stunned to receive a letter from their church in July asking them to \u201cparticipate in the life of the church\u201d or worship elsewhere. \u201cThey basically called us freeloaders,\u201d says Julie Clark. \u201cWe were<\/i> freeloaders,\u201d says Bob Clark.<\/p>\n
In a trend that may signal rough times for wallflower Christians, megachurch Faith Community of Winston-Salem has asked \u201cnon-participating members\u201d to stop attending. \u201cNo more Mr. Nice Church,\u201d says the executive pastor, newly hired from Cingular Wireless. \u201cBigger is not always better. Providing free services indefinitely to complacent Christians is not our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeloading Christians were straining the church\u2019s nursery and facility resources and harming the church\u2019s ability to reach the lost, says the pastor. \u201cWhen your bottom line is saving souls, you get impatient with people who interfere with that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Faith Community sent polite but firm letters to families who attended church services and freebie events but never volunteered, never tithed, and did not belong to a small group or other ministry. The church estimates that, of its 8,000 regular attendees, only half have volunteered in the past three years, and a third have never given to the church.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore now, we made people feel comfortable and welcome, and tried to coax them to give a little something in return,\u201d says a staff member. \u201cThat\u2019s changed. We\u2019re done being the community nanny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, the move to disinvite people has drawn a positive response from men in the community who like the idea of an in-your-face church. \u201cI thought, A church that doesn\u2019t allow wussies\u2014that rocks<\/i>,\u201d says Bob Clark, who admires the church more since they told him to get lost.<\/p>\n
P.S. This is not a true story, though we wish it were.<\/p>\n
\u2014Joel Kilpatrick, \u201cMega-Church Downsizes, Cuts Non-Essential Members,\u201d Larknews.com (September 2006)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Apathy; Church Involvement; Complacency; Devotion; Faith and Works; Giving; Indifference; Sanctification; Service; Spiritual Formation; Spiritual Growth References: Matthew 18:15\u201316; Romans 12:6\u20138, 11; Ephesians 4:11\u201316; 1 Timothy 3:10; Revelation 3:15\u201316 Julie and Bob Clark were stunned to receive a letter from their church in July asking them to \u201cparticipate in the life of the church\u201d … Continue reading “SAYING
\n FAREWELL TO CHURCH FREELOADERS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}