Being Together

The story goes that a Preacher was traveling to a conference and decided to stop and worship with a local congregation. He walked into the building for Bible Class and was greeted warmly. Bible Class got off to a little late start due to all the visiting that was going on and the teacher said that they would just finish next Sunday. The Bible Class teacher invited the Preacher to sit with him and his family for worship. As the Preacher sat in his pew, he thought how noisy it was with the laughing and talking. How in the world could any of these Christians prepare their minds for worship?

The men serving didn't come out until 7 minutes after start time, having got side tracked talking about unimportant things the Preacher thought. And to top it off, when the person got up to make the announcements he had to wait for everyone to stop talking before he could start. The rest of the services went well and the teacher invited the Preacher to go out and eat. the Preacher accepted but had to wait a full hour to get out because it seemed that everyone wanted to talk and visit so much that they couldn't get out the door.

Since the traveling Preacher was staying the night in town, he decide to go back for the PM service and was astounded to see the building almost as full as it was that morning! He looked up the attendance from last week in the bulletin and noticed that this church he was visiting only had a 6% decline on Sunday night and Wednesday night than to the AM service. He quickly went to find the Bible Class teacher and, after waiting to speak to him, (more visiting), he asked if what he was reading about attendance was a typo. The teacher said, "No, we always type in the of number ever since I've been here." The traveling Preacher said, "Please tell me what kind of program or activity that you're doing here to get these kinds of numbers. I've never heard of a church that had such a high attendance number on Sunday night and Wednesday night" The teacher smiled and said, "We aren't doing anything other than what the Bible teaches us." The Preacher then asked, "Then what is going on at this church that make so many people return?” The Bible Class teacher said simply, "We Just Enjoy Being Together!"

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)

Grace and Peace

Blan