God's Will: The Beginning
This part of our story began in the fall of 2014, when we traveled to see this small town church. We were to take a tour of the building and meet the head of the staff-parish relations committee. We didn't know what we were walking into, but we had been told that this church had stagnated and was "dying," but the members want it to become a growing, prosperous church again.
It was interesting that we took a tour of the church, guided by one man, and we were to make a decision on whether or not my husband would take on the challenge of pastoring this church...before we met anyone else who attended it.
I don't know about you, but typically, when deciding whether or not to make a church my home, I need to meet the people who go there. Call me crazy, but I want to know if I can get along with them. To make a home with them. To make friends!
We left the kids with their grandparents and braved the tour together.
First impression: Lift chairs installed in the stairways (for people who can't climb stairs). Split-pea colored carpet. Really old and stained in some places. And it had the "old church" smell. Old carpet, old hymnals, pews in the sanctuary with matching split-pea colored cushions - lots of old stuff. Lots of beautiful, probably somewhat historic woodwork. Sort of what we were expecting.
We were used to awesome, high-tech experiences for adults with a worship team and drama team that added to the energy and enjoyment of services. We came from a church filled with young families and children, which provided a dynamic, really fun, way-cool kids' ministry program.
So, naturally, I was interested in what they had for kids.
I was informed they hadn't had kids in attendance for years, and none of the classrooms had been used for some time.
The tiny nursery was filled with unused children's chairs, and included a child-sized table that was rather dilapidated. There was a tv/vcr all-in-one combo and some vhs tapes in the corner. And a few toys, stuffed animals and books...all about circa 1970. And dust.
The stairway up to the kids' classrooms was partially obstructed by more unused furniture and things that should have been in storage. One classroom contained 3 really old couches someone had donated, presumably when they had outlived their use. They were really ugly couches. Oh wait - I still have pictures of them!
I heard one of the former pastors used to sneak in and take a nap on them.
There were no child-sized chairs or tables in that room. It was a storage area with bright red carpet and stained-glass windows. This had been used for a youth room at one point in the past. An honest-to-goodness overhead projector, and some really old, unidentifyable AV equipment was stowed in the corner.
The second classroom was filled with more furniture and stuff that was no longer in use. Another couch. Two pews from the choir loft. There were 4 adult-sized chairs, a rickety table, and some 70's style children's Bibles. And more dust. I wanted to cry. In fact, I had to try hard to fight back the tears.
How could I, in good conscience, bring our children to this church that...had no place for them? Had no classrooms of children for them to make friends with? Had nothing colorful or inviting in the classrooms or hallways, and probably no teachers? (I really didn't want to teach our kids Sunday School when I homeschool them the rest of the week. We need a break from each other!) This church was the polar opposite of the one we had just left, as far as kids' ministry goes.
The rest of the tour was fine - they had a nice-sized sanctuary, but their choir director/pianist had just quit because the choir had shrunk to two people, one whom had hearing loss. Then it was down to 1. No point in continuing.
The activity space downstairs was the highlight of the building for me. The church used it once a month for spaghetti dinners, and the Boy Scouts used it once a week for meetings. There was a large flat-screen tv, a large floor space that could be used for children's activities if the tables and chairs were put away, and a small stage hooked up with sound and stage lights.
After a long talk with the church's representative, much prayer, and not a little stress (Does God really want us to go here? Can we really do this? This seems like it will be really hard. It might fail. This is going to take a lot of faith!), we prayed. We prayed hard.
If God could part the Red Sea and keep the Israelites alive in the desert for 40 years, providing for their every need, He would take care of us. It was time to dip our toes into the water.
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