What would you want in a church?

When you were witnessing to anyone and the subject turned to where you attend, did they suddenly get a frown and back away like you had the plague?

Chances are, there has been a really bad experience somewhere along the line and now they are damaged goods when it comes to winning them over to Christianity.

It has gotten to the point that a lot of people will say that they are Christians, but that they refuse to go to church. Sometimes from the things I've seen, I don't blame them.

This week I found out one reason.

Tithing/Offerings.

How many times have you looked at someone funny when they grabbed the plate, put nothing in, and then passed it to you? Why did you?

Not everyone gets paid every week. I get paid monthly and my wife only gets paid every 2 weeks. So I don't tithe weekly. I don't have money coming in weekly. Does that make me a bad person? Nope.

What about the woman whose husband has left her, she has kids in tow, and can barely make her rent/mortgage, utilities and buy some food for the table. Chances are she won't have the money.

But what if she did? Is it any of your business whether she puts any in, and how much? NO!

We need to get rid of the "plate/bucket" that gets passed around. No more guilt tripping anyone into giving their tithe. They're not stupid. They know they are supposed to give. And chances are, if you see yourself in that "looking down" position, when they do give, it will be better received by God than your 1% that you think you can get away with giving each week.

Our church that I will be using a system of: here's the offering container, you know what/when you're supposed to put in it. Now do it. Either before, during or after the service.

Let's stop running people off from church for stupid reasons and start figuring out how to bring people back to the church. Quit playing Pharisee/Sadduccee and start playing Christianee like the bible commands us to. Love thy neighbor, doesn't just mean the one next door, it means the person that you come in contact with. Because as long as they are beside you, for the moment, they are your neighbor.

May God bless you as you each strive to make a difference for the Lord.