Just a side note...

Ok, it's been forever too long since I've written on here. It's not due to lack of inspiration, but more from lack of time. I won't go into all of that here (you can check out my other blog for more of that personal info), but just wanted to touch on something that has been rolling around in my head for a bit and pertains to a post by Bill in a round-about way.

Bill posted a question about ways to improve the quality of sunday school/small group time. I'm not here to answer that question actually, but to pose a question of my own. Is your sunday school/sunday evening service dying? Is it already gone and dead? If so why is that? So many churches I've noticed have gone away from having a Sunday evening service and are now cutting Sunday school, is this a good thing? Are we (Cornerstone Fellowship) ancient for keeping these meeting times? I don't think so, but that's me. And I'm not one to keep something just because it's always been done, but I'm also not for discarding something just because it's the "hip" thing to do. I find most churches are discarding these meeting times and not replacing them with something alive and vibrant. They are discarding them simply because not very many people come. Which brings me to two questions:

1.) As leadership do we do things because of the number of people attending, or because God has asked us to be available for the few who are being discipled in these times. I'll just leave that one right there. :D

2.) Why aren't people coming. Perhaps it's not an exciting time where God is moving and people are being touched. If that's the case, then that falls on the shoulders of the leadership. If we are not providing an opportunity for God to move, then it's all for nothing anyway. But most often I find that people are "too busy" to attend, or that those times are their "family times". Now I'm all for family times (anyone who knows me or my family knows that) but really, we can't find family times at ANY other time than Sunday night? and if that's true then what does that say for our priorities? What does that teach our children about priorities? "God is good, but only when it's convenient to us."

What has happened to the Sabbath in America? I'm not necessarily talking about doing nothing on Sunday in a legalistic sense... the Sabbath is about setting time aside to spend with God. Doing nothing without spending time with God is simply that, doing nothing. I'm not going to crucify anyone who "works" on Sunday. My parents are both nurses and at one time both had to work on Sundays, it was necessary and a good thing. The sabbath is about setting aside time for God. How sad is it that we can't do that more than our "2 hours" on a Sunday morning, let alone the 24 hours that God originally asked for. I am active on Sundays, I lead in our services, I do some activities in the afternoon, but I honestly do spend that time with God. Some might question one of those meeting times as not for God, but I do talk to God alot during that activity and ask Him for His eyes with the people around me. I don't just mindlessly do things (which is why I can no longer watch football on Sunday, as much as I'd love to... it's wasted time with God and I can catch the highlights later... instead of watching football and catching the "highlights" with God later. Yeah, I just made that up... i like it.)

Ok, I said all that to pose this question... Are we giving up the Sunday school/Sunday evening time for something better in God's plan, or are we simply giving up time with God because we are too lazy and selfish to give it to Him? Something to ponder. God bless.