Setting the Sidewalk

Someone recently shared the following story they had heard. I thought you might find it interesting grist:

"Some developers bought out a city block of park area to erect skyscrapers. All but one of them laid down side walks and walk ways to enter and exit their buildings. The one developer that didn't was ridiculed by the others because he left bare grass in front of his building. As time went by and the building was now open to the public, people had trampled a path in the grass to enter and exit the building. After it hit dirt level the developer came back and laid his marble slabs in the path of how the people were walking. The developer noticed how they were walking and built his walkway around them instead of them around his walkway."

Do we force people to walk our way as a disciple unnecessarily?

The Pastor who posted this mentioned that they abandoned Sunday School, Sunday evening services and Wednesday prayer meetings. The people were not walking that way. They came late for SS and evening church, and attendance was less than 50%. Wednesday night was 10% or less.

The leadership got together, went out and talked individually to families, and realized the church was forcing them to either exhaust themselves (already exhausted by the week) on Sundays, or feel like second class christians. They got some feedback, kicked around some ideas with the congregation, did some teaching, and made the above changes.

They added some tools and training via sermons and handouts and skits on how families could spend 20 or 30 minutes in family devotions a few nights a week to train their children (the parents role anyway). They added home groups every other Wednesday that shared a meal together, each bringing a small part to a hosts house, and having prayer and bible discussions, nothing formal, just ideas and problems shared.

They also encouraged people to spend one or two nights a month pursuing a hobby or connecting in some other way with unbelievers (ceramics, sports, painting class, photography class, etc). Some got together and used their freed up time to walk through the neighbourhood’s inviting people to church and handing out flyers they made about their new focus.

I am not, and he did not, advocate the conclusions they came to and implemented were the only way to go, just the way the path was when they looked closely.

What paths do you see that are being missed in your fellowships, that might allow the people to better connect, and to be more natural and less forced about it (something that is resisted)?

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