Sadness

I learned recently that one of my favorite haunts is going out of business.

I have done everything that I can to keep them in business.

But alas, my neighborhood Starbucks is going to close. I never thought I would live to see a "Closed" sign on the door.

It has got me thinking about the place where I work....a church.

We have been open for nearly eighty years. Over that period of time there have been a lot of other churches that have opened around us.

Starbucks opened "coffee-terias" at an unprecedented rate, and the closing of my neighborhood Starbucks has got me thinking.

Each month in our leadership team meeting I pose the same questions in print.

Here are the questions....

What would our community say if our church closed down?
What would their response be?

Would anybody know and if they knew how long would it

be before they recognized we were closed?

We ask people to do three things a week here.

Come to a worship service to fall more in love with God and His Word.

Go to a small group to love others in community.

Serve in a ministry to impact others.

Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger, p.40-41

I am thinking that if we do those three things in the place where I worship there is a good chance that we will be a viable voice in a community that is looking for hope.

The neighborhood Starbucks is closing....our church is open. In some communities it is the other way around.

What do you think?