We Aren't Coming Back!

I love this response from Minister Patrick Mead. It’ll come in handy some day I’m sure.

A couple was furious with the church they attended. We had gone to see what happened to them after someone noticed they’d been gone from our worship assembly for some time.

“We aren’t coming back,” the husband said. “That is an unloving, cold church that claims to care about people but doesn’t.” I asked him on what basis he made that judgment and he replied, “We were gone four weeks from that church before anyone there even noticed. What kind of church doesn’t even notice something like that?”

I replied, “What kind of person are you, that you could be gone for four weeks and that no one in the church could tell?” They were shocked by this ‘attack’ so I pressed on. “What work suffered because you stopped your ministry? What mission work ground to a halt because you withdrew your funding, prayers and support? Could it be — just imagine with me a moment — could it be that you never really were a part of the church? Could that be why your departure was unnoticed?”