Sunday, January 08, 2006

Sad News- From a Congregational Meeting

I felt so disprited today as I sat through what was perhaps the most tragic congregational meeting I have ever been to. Our elders, deacons, and ministry leaders have decided to remove benevolance from the 2006 budget. Missions which managed to "survive" was dessimated to an almost non existent point.

I sat jaw dropped and amazed at the annoucement as their defense was something to the effect of we hated to do it but the copier needed to be replaced and the driveway top needs to be resealed.

I could hardly sit through the meeting as I sat in my chair with tears in my eyes.

At the end we were challenged to put our giving commitment on a card and give it to one of the elders on our way out. I could not fill it out. It was not that I could not commit to give to God this year, it was that I was just so hurt by the ideology behind the budget that I could not bring myself to write my number on the card.

More and More I am dispossessed!!!

Matthew 24:37-40 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

2 comments:

Darla said...

i am so sorry... this makes my heart break... i can only imagine what it does to yours. may God's grace be with you and with us all.

gerbmom said...

Wow Kevin - that amazes me. My jaw hit the floor too. What were they thinking? Right now our church is sadly in need of new boilers, the roof is leaking and the parking lot is terrible. Oh, and there are also problems with the sewers. We are a mess. But so far we deal with it the best we can so we don't have to cut benevolence and missions. It all comes down to priorities....