So...we visited this one church some years ago, in our county, 2 or 3 times. It had been some years since we were there. I am sure that we filled out a visitor card because they had my email address. They had not emailed me in at least 2-3 years, at all. No interest in trying to reach out to us, to encourage us...nothing, right? So, in May of this year, I get an email from them. What follows is their email (copied and pasted, with their name omitted and replaced with question marks. Notes in italics were added by me):
From: matt@??????????????.com [matt@??????????????.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 10:49 AM
To: Michael Kennedy (that's me)
Subject: Now you can give generously online!!!!
Dear Michael,
Important Information:
Now you can give generously online!!!!
Whether you'd like to give a single gift, schedule ongoing donations, or view your giving history, you can do it all online. It's quick, easy, and secure. Here you can give your tithe as well as your gifts. With our new, enhanced service you can give by using your checking account, debit or credit card (understand-- The team at ??????(shortened church name) would rather you NOT give with a credit card if there is a chance that it will not be paid off at the end of the month), whichever is most convenient. This safe and flexible option is one of the easiest ways to give to ??????(shortened church name).
Please browse the options, and get acquainted with the new online giving option
Thank you for your support!
If you have any questions concerning this service feel free to contact our finance team at ???-???-????
Please join us by donating online at:
https://products.connectionpower.com/powergiving/donor/?church_id=251
You may log in using the username ???????? and the password ???????.(someone took time to develop a user name and password for me)
Sincerely,
?????? ???????? ?? ???(name of church)
Making Jesus Famous!!!
This really struck me and maybe I was wrong for doing it, but, if you know me then you know that I have a very low threshhold for what I refer to as nominal churches. The following is my response (because someone needed to stand up and say "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"
Really? So this is the first email (or any contact) that I have received from ?? (church initials) in I can't remember how long, but instead of being concerned for my spiritual wellbeing (which you obviously are not due to lack of contact, duh) you want money? You need to pass on this concern...close your doors and quit pretending to be a real church. So typical of nominal churces. "Give us your money and we will agree to leave you alone. We don't REALLY care if you go to hell as long as we are in your will." Please delete me from your mail list and get a clue. I am so tired of churches that hurt the name of Christ by being nominal. You are doing more damage than you will ever know or could imagine with your half attempts. If you could throw out all the crap and concentrate on the meat, then your church could experience true revival and not be just another superficially nominal social club under the guise of a religious congregation. I just thought that it was about time that someone said what needed to be spoken.
So, how many blog subscribers did I just lose? Don't you ever see something wrong and something snaps and you have to try to make it right, even if you know that your words will probably fall on deaf ears? Or are you the one that would see a man slapping a woman around in Wal-mart and just say that its not any of your business? Well I received a reply that stated: "I am sorry that you received that email. You were not supposed to..." Still no concern for me? Really? Even after I told you that you overlooked your responsibility to reach out to people and love them "as Christ loves the church"? Is that kinda like me telling a man, who is beating his wife in public, to stop hitting his wife and he responds with "I'm sorry. I didn't know you could see me doing that"? Didn't he kinda miss the point?
Am I the only one who thinks it is OK to shine a light on wrong in order to limit its future occurances? Are we so self-centered that we let churches abuse with no checks or balances? Will anyone else stand up and say "That's enough! You have got to be kidding! We can do better than this!" Or maybe we should just be punks, who say "well what good would it do for me to say anything? Who am I to judge?"
Final thought: If you went to a resturant and it was really bad (bad food, bad service, overpriced or and combination of bad things) would you say nothing and let me go there or would you tell everyone to avoid the place? Why do we think that churches get a pass? There are movie critics, fasion critics and food critics...why not church critics?
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Some time back, a church we were attending regularly send their "salvation" team out to our house. Obviously, there'd been some sort of mix up. We were a solid Godly family, involved in the church as well as our community. (My husband and I have been saved 20+ years) Despite our confession, they still tried to "get us saved." After the visit, I spoke to the pastor about it, and his reasoning (excuse)was that in a church that large, those things happen. He finally apologized, but it was difficult to get him to accept any responsibility for the oversight. This seems to be a *common* occurance in many churches be it "ministry teams" or tithing. The onslaught of the internet has been a wonderful tool for most churches, but in the wrong hands it HURTS families. I think that when a church decides to use the net to "help" them, they need to be willing to engage in a learning curve with their congregation as well as visitors.
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