Churches Developing their People

Yeah, but... does it HAVE to be singing? Lots of people can sing, but if you let every one of them take turns on stage the church service becomes karaoke night. And if you get them all in a choir, more than half the congregation will be onstage singing to mostly empty pews.

Enjoy not being in the spotlight. If you're onstage everybody sees when you make a mistake. If you're in the congregation you can relax and belt out the song.

Hey, if your church is not like that (like I described in my first message) that's great. I was just seeing if anyone felt as isolated in church as I do sometimes.

Noooo, it does not have to be singing. I do singing in nursing homes, and today I just took my guitar to a senior citizen's home and sang a couple of songs for him and his wife - after they asked me. I do not push my talent on other people unless I know they want me to. See my responses to Running Man and Hungry above for my willingness to do anything else in church. And yes, I would vacuum if they want. I'm not proud.

Let me just say this: Do you have anyone in church that has just has filled a pew for years? Do you think they might want to be part of the work? Do you think they might want to be accepted wholly in the church? Has anyone asked them to participate in the work? C'mon, let them in - they might stay a lot longer! Like you intimate, everyone has a talent. Let them show it once in a while. You know that God is going to hold them accountable too for how they use their talent.

By the way, I'm really enjoying talking to you about this. I could not have this conversation in my church without offending someone. Thank you so much for reaching out!

Ah, you can play guitar too...

Ever thought of joining the praise team, as a singer, a musician or both?

Also, ever thought of trying some effects with the guitar? You don't have to buy hardware stomp pedals these days - you don't actually have to BUY the effects any more - all you need is a six dollar adapter to connect your guitar to the computer's mic port, and any old computer can host virtual effects (FREE virtual effects!) and apply them to your guitar's sound.

Oh yeah... and if you already tried to join the praise team, what did they say?

ok - maybe we've gotten off track here. I mentioned the praise team, which encompasses the musicians and the singers, primarily as an example of serving areas that are tighter to get into than Ft Knox, so it seems sometimes. Actually, I'm sorry I did now because that's not where I intended to take this conversation. Yes, I've sung once in our church, and they know I can, but again, that's not my point.

I just think that Churches, particularly mine, should work harder than they do to get people involved - everyone involved.

Recently, I filled out an application to be on the security team (former Army and as a former govt employee ALWAYS concerned about security). In lieu of that, I did have one of the Associate Pastors ask me if I would work as a greeter. I gratefully accepted because that was the first hint I've had in 20 years that they wanted me to do anything. Well, I might be kind of old to be security, but I can see that as a greeter, I can use my crowd scoping skills to spot any unusual behavior, plus I have a terrific spidey sense when anything is wrong.

Prior to this request, I've been and will continue to be a prayer warrior, because I don't have to have anyone's approval to do that. And it really is one of the most important jobs a member can have. Out of 400 plus people, it's a real shame our Wed night prayer meeting only tops out at 11 on good nights.

(BTW) my guitar skills are suspect, but when I was a kid, I figured out you really only need three chords to play any song in the book. You know, GCE, EAG, CFG. Hey, but I do SingSnap - do you do that?

I'm a music nerd. You mention music, I'm gonna home in on it like a sidewinder missile.

But yeah, your fourth post DID give me the impression you were mostly bummed because of the music they sing these days.

How big is this church? Like, what size congregation? We talking a little church of 30 or a megachurch of thousands or what?

Four hundred or so - hard to tell now because of all the social distancing and multiple services to accommodate the distancing.

Fourth post - yes, I got sidetracked. oops!

One thing I forgot to mention that when I'm serving as a greeter, I will be able to identify newcomers and asking them what their strengths are and trying to get them involved at a much earlier date - after we get to know them of course - in church activities.

Oh, and folksy yet erudite - that kind of sums up Charles Dickens doesn't it! Are you Charles Dickens? JUST KIDDING!

Liked the sidewinder reference. I joined the Army as a kid, but I worked for the Air Force my entire career.

The dickens, you say!

That's a real large church by the standards of southwest Tennessee. I can imagine they already have all the bases covered. In general, the bigger the church, the more they already have positions filled.

Our church runs around 90 and we always have the people to do what needs to get done without TOO much begging.

Now that small church of around 30 that is about 18 miles away, they ALWAYS needing help with stuff.

I'll tell you one thing I WISH I could do, is talk to people casually. I'm real good at talking with a purpose, but chit-chat escapes me.

My Grandma though, she's a past-master at the art. She sees a new person at church, she'll quietly sit down beside them and start a conversation in her quiet, calm way, and in a few minutes they're chatting like old friends. Grandma's one of the best ambassadors we got for talking to new people.

Anybody reading this and you're good at chit-chat, you oughta be putting that to good use in church whenever you see a new person. They're feeling shy and awkward in a new environment. Make them feel at home.

What's new? it is known as maintaining the status quo as in we have done this for the last 50 years so why change it.

When I was a new christian in a little country baptist church they found all sorts of things that I could do. I even preached my first sermon when I was 14 years old. By the age of 17 I was a regular. If you want to grow you haf to have a go. You learn by your mistakes, not your successes. I learned so much by my mistakes that I decided to keep making them. What a way to learn.