Churches

I am listening.

I am learning.

I am aching.  

I feel like the tables have turned, and I am getting new points of views on all sorts of things.  Especially with churches.  I think we as churches, and as Christians, are failing.  We are supposed to be God's love to everyone we encounter.  That is not happening.  People are coming to church and never feeling a sense of connection or love.  People who have spent a lifetime volunteering in a church are losing their roles to paid staff or cut programs/ministries, and they are losing a sense of purpose.  While the focus of a church should definitely be to save the lost...to witness to people.  It is also a place to raise up mature Christians, to mentor, to provide accountability and relationships, and things that people can be involved in.  I have seen and known too many people who once lived a life that served Christ, that have now lost hope...who have been left behind.  I went to a Christian college, and I would say most of my classmates no longer live a Christian lifestyle at all.  Many have announced that they have changed their beliefs, that the are not so "naive" as they once were.  My heart aches tonight...not just for people who do not know Christ, but for those who did and have lost hope.  My heart aches for those who were once such active parts of their church and are now left without a service or a ministry and are feeling unneeded.