Ministry is rough. That’s just the truth. I’m not complaining, just explaining. I knew what I was getting into when I answered the call to do it, and I knew many of the complicating factors when God called us to head back to my hometown to do it.
One of the things churches deal with is that for many folks, the church is only as good as the last thing they’ve done for somebody.
Years ago a guy who didn’t attend Faithbridge reached out. He’d been approved for government housing and needed to get out of a tenement apartment above an abandoned store front.
Several folks from Faithbridge rented a U-Haul, marched up and down those steps dozens of times and even sourced some better donated furniture for him, then moved it all into his new place in Pleasant Ridge.
It didn’t inspire him to attend church, but he was grateful and we all felt helping a guy down on his luck was good anyway.
A couple of years later, that same man’s sister died, and he called to find out if I could do a funeral service. Unfortunately, I had just come down with the flu and said I couldn’t — but we had a couple other ministers at the church who could handle it.
That wasn’t good enough. He never called back, and every time I ran into him around town, before he moved to the East End, he refused to speak to me. I wasn’t allowed to have the flu when he had a sporadic need, so now I was the bad guy.
That, sometimes, is ministry in a nutshell. Other times ministry is awe-inspiring and miraculous, so it all comes out in the wash.
In the 20-plus years Faithbridge has existed, we’ve had some folks leave, complaining that the church is “cliqueish.” Any church will tell you they hear this, too.
Oddly the folks who feel left out are the ones who never participate or serve in any way.
They get angry that the folks who work alongside one another serving or preparing food, painting walls or clearing sidewalks and the folks who join small study groups or attend Bible studies together at the worship center end up with stronger relationships and more sense of belonging.
The solution isn’t in staying on the outside, looking in at others with ire. It’s to get active and watch the relationships form naturally. When someone declines to accept an invitation to join in, it’s missing an opportunity to feel included.
Sometimes people have others, including me, offend them… and leave the church.
Sometimes they’re justifiably upset. We’re human, and we all blow it sometimes. I might forget to do something I said I would or not have been told that someone gave birth and never showed up at the hospital, which leaves folks feeling like they’re not cared for or don’t matter to me.
They do matter and I care for them, but, like I said, we’re human. Mistakes are made.
One thing I love is that some folks who leave come back. They go check out some other churches, or they stay home until the steam subsides, but then they realize they’re missing something and come back. We welcome them without consternation and are glad to have them back. They’re human too.
They’re also part of the family. We love and connect with each other, if we’re doing it right. The Bible even says we “belong to one another.”
That’s true for all the churches in town. Their congregation is their family. Pastor Woods down at New Testament church loves and cares for the flock down there, and they belong to one another and each have their own place in that church.
Pastor Black at McKees Rocks AOG and Pastor Murray at Second Baptist have their own family they nurture, serve and serve alongside, and I know those folks feel that belonging because I talk to them. They often say things like “I love what you Faithbridge folks are doing… but my home is at my church and I love it.”
That doesn’t mean they haven’t had moments. It means they realize that God’s church is made of humans, and humans are imperfect and in need of grace and forgiveness sometimes.
I don’t know everything, but I do know this — if you’ve figured out how to have a perfect church, full of perfect people, don’t invite me there… I’ll ruin your perfect streak.
If you have a normal (meaning uniquely abnormal) church working with imperfect humans, keep your grace cup full because sometimes you’re gonna have to ask for more so you can overflow and spill it out on folks who’ve dropped the ball.
Remember, God could have chosen to make churches perfect. Instead he chose to use people, knowing we don’t achieve perfection this side of Heaven.
The Rev. James Hogan is a native of Stowe Township and serves as pastor of Faithbridge Community Church. His reviews do not reflect the views of the West Hills Gazette.
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