Contributing

I have heard folks lately lamenting the fact that members don't contribute to the church anymore. And I don't mean money.

Where are the members willing to take on teaching 3-year-olds or 6th graders for a semester? Sam and I taught Juniors (4, 5, 6th graders) for 10 years at Minter Lane. We had so much fun teaching together. We ran the class like the teachers we were--each student had textbooks (Bible, concordance, bible atlas, paid for out of the education fund). Lessons were centered around stories with moral values, but students had to do homework with their textbooks for each lesson. It was a different time--they actually did the work because we were heavily supported by their parents.

Along the way, we created games not seen then in Bible classes--Jeopardy, Concentration, To Tell the Truth, etc. We often used learning centers which included art, music and drama. We had a library of religious books they could check out. And we gave tests and report cards. A former students says she knows much more today about the Middle East because of the bible atlas.

Where are the members willing to rock babies in the nursery one Sunday a month? Why must we pay others to "keep" the nursery?

Where are the members willing to teach Ladies Bible class during the week or a class on Sunday morning? In the class I attended at Highland, after the topic for the semester was chosen, members of the class rotated teaching. Some were skilled; some were not. We bore with them as they learned more than we did. I am becoming more and more convinced that Sunday morning classes as our fellowship runs them now are an anacronism. They tend to make us think we know more than we do, and they give us another "act" to check off.

Where are the members who are willing to contribute money and time to church missions, the youth group, cooking for the homeless, newcomer dinners, adopting college students?

Where are the members willing to encourage the staff with hugs, notes, hospitality,
and other encouragement?

Where are we?????