Monday, September 05, 2005

Congregational Apathy

Well, it happened . After all of the begging and pleading , we could not find two people in our congregation who would volunteer to teach Sunday School once or twice a month. What causes a congregation to get to this point. The vast majority of our members refuse to engage in any church activity that requires that they devote more than 15 - 20 min. per month . We had a yard sale for one of our outreach programs this past weekend , people were glad to drop off their donated items, but no one volunteered to stay and help .( With the exception of the same 3 or 4 people who do almost everything else. ) No one wants to be responsible for anything, most will say, "just call if you need anything" . I've come to find out, through my tenure on vestry and as Chris.Ed. director, and verger, and news letter editor, and choir member and lay reader and Chalicer, that the "anything" people are talking about consists of picking up some soda and cookies from the grocery store down the block and dropping them off before what ever event we are trying to plan actually happens . I truly do thank God for the handful of dedicated volunteers that my congregation has, unfortunately most of them are , like myself, stretched to thin. I am so disgusted at this point I'm not sure what to do. Resigning as Chris.Ed director was my first reaction. I guess only time will tell. Now if you will pardon me , I must go and develop a Sunday School plan that will work when only taught once a month.

8 comments:

Isidora said...

Hi Militant Housewife,

Your description of congregational apathy fits my church to a tee. Only here, people are really really good at coming up with schemes that would require hundreds of hours of person power to implement. And then there's just me, the Parish Administrator, with a bulletin to get out, to do it!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Militant. I Googled "Congregational Apathy", and yours was one of the first results I got. Is "refreshing" the right word? "Affirming"? Anyway, I feel better knowing that I'm not the only fed up one. Like you said, 15-20 minutes monthly max is all people want to give. You know the "big rock", "little rock" thing? Well, church is definitely not a "big rock" for these people. They put all the "little rocks" in their jar first, and there's not room left for the "big rocks". (Except they do love, and come to hear, my husband preach. He's wonderful. And that requires only one hour out of their week on a Sunday morning. When it fits.) And, in rural Nebraska, people are pretty apathetic to begin with. This pastor's wife was "gung ho" cheerleader, partner, etc. for the first ten years of hubby's ministry. At this point in time, I'm DONE at Year 16. Now I'm mom and wife FIRST. I quit doing EVERYTHING at church, thinking people would notice what fell through the cracks, and pick up the slack. NOT SO. Now I'm doing just a few things, and all else is just plain not getting done by anyonE, except the things hubby took on: he is VBS coordinator, SS coordinator, music coordinator, choir director when the choir director feels like being AWOL, youth group leader--all with little or no help or volunteers. This is all on top of his regular duties as pastor, and all the God-forsaken paperwork. Just what I wanted, right? The men really are great with the property, council, etc. The women? They have pretty much dropped off our congregational planet. I keep praying for Pete to get a Call "South", at least so the kids and I can enjoy the scenery, travel, see, feel, smell the places our favorite artists love and write and sing about. Southern hospitality, and all that. I at least envy your geographical location. :) I'm orthodox Lutheran, by the way, but it seems we have congregational apathy in common, if not doctrine (oh, by the way--many of the congregations in our church body are very excited and innovative. didn't want to give the wrong impression). :) Thanks for being there; thanks for listening. :) Have a glass of sweet tea for me, please. :) --tunnasch@gmail.com

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