Proper Responses

Let us revisit these scenarios again. How would you respond this time?

A promising young family attended an outreach event at church and started coming to church on Sunday mornings. The husband and wife started to attend Bible Information classes, but then stopped. They no longer answered phone calls from the pastor or returned emails. Eventually, the husband sent a text asking the church to remove their name from the mailing list. How do the pastor and members process disappointment and rejection?

How do the pastor and members process disappointment and rejection?

Agree or disagree: This could be an example of a gospel seed that landed in soil covered with thorns.

A congregation launched an aggressive outreach program throughout the summer. It was a great success. Unchurched kids from the neighborhood enjoyed themselves and learned about Jesus. Parents expressed appreciation. The summer came to an end, school started up again, and members were noticing that there were no new faces on Sunday morning.

How can church members process disappointment?

A young man who attended a Lutheran elementary school and graduated from a nearby Lutheran High School had stopped going to church. He told the pastor that he was too busy and admitted that he found church to be irrelevant and boring. The young man came from an active church family.

How do you process disappointment or parental guilt?