WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Why are elders, shepherds, so dense when it comes to understanding what is happening to the congregations they are suppose to be leading?

It is certainly not because they do not care—they do care. I know they do. I have been intimately associated with elders for many years. They care but they also seem blind to the things that are going on around them.

I know churches where members—good, honest, God loving members are leaving. They are not radical and they are not trouble makers. They just leave quietly. The elders care but their comment is simply, “Well, you can’t please everybody.”

The Bible School attendance is down and the elders care but they just say the same thing, “Well, you can’t please everybody.”

My question is, “Do you even want to try?”

I have seen this happen so often that it makes me sick. One day, when Bible School attendance is so low that they finally say, “Let’s close it down,” they do “see” and want to make some changes—and it’s too late.

One day, when the attendance is so low that even the little, old ladies ask, “Where is everybody?” They “see” and want to do something about it, and it’s too late.