Best Practices

Summary

Why do we go to church? Why did you come here this morning? You could have stayed at home to read a Sunday paper and have an extra cup of coffee, or ride bike on the Pumpkinvine. Instead, you came here. Why?

I recently met with an old friend. Since we hadn’t been together in a while, we had a lot of catching up to do. After it seemed like we had exhausted every topic possible, I asked him: “How’s your church doing?” Without a break he said, “I don’t go to church anymore. I don’t feel the need for it.” I was stunned! He had worked for church organizations almost all of his adult life. In fact, he worked in congregational ministries for a while. I asked him if he’d consider himself spiritual but not religious. He agreed that that label would fit him. A church dropout in his 70s! Though stunned, I just listened.