Open letter to a church pastor (and loud church members)

Dear pastor of a local church and the vocal church member who ate lunch two tables down from us-

A couple of weeks ago I visited the college and career/singles class on Sunday morning. I wanted to let you know that I walked away feeling discouraged and unwanted. I had to work that day so I could not attend my own fellowship and decided to sit in to see if it would be something that I would be interested in coming too given that my church does not have a strong single ministry. I walked away without anyone welcoming me, without anyone pointing me in the direction that I needed to go, without sharing my name. I realize that some fault may be mine and I need to be braver, however, I was disappointed that no one seemed to want to get to know the new face in the class. I did not even get greeted- I sat for an HOUR in the class alone at a table and no one spoke to me or offered to take me to coffee much less lunch. You call yourselves Southerners? I got squat. I know I put on deodorant that day!. I am just unsure that as a church who seems to take pride in their outreach, that an outsider could feel that alone.

Recently, my family and I went to at a local restaurant after church on Sunday. We sat down and I recognized the Sunday School teacher as the same person who taught the class I attended (at least I think it was same person. I was not invited to share my information with the Sunday School teachers so I have no idea who they were). Anyway, I recognized him and as we were eating lunch the loud conversation caught our attention-especially given that the restaurant was fairly empty and I am sure the wait staff and kitchen could hear their conversation . They were discussing the pastor's recent award (not in a good light), salaries of the staff (which we believed to be pennies) and the overall disappointment that their church (enter Rent song: How do you measure, measure your ministry?) is paying their pastors so much when they do not see the "fruit" of these pastors work- specifically the word they used was "productivity". SIDEBAR: How productive are you really at work, you solitaire player? (Disclaimer: this is all well and fine as within the right context; however not okay to discuss it loud and publicly). They specifically mentioned a pastor which caught our ears and my dad finally went over, introduced himself and politely, yet subtly, asked them to lower their voices.

It convicted us- my mom, dad and I- as sometimes we all get caught talking about things we shouldn't. But it hurt our view of your church,as we live close and it might be a church that we would visit in the event that we ever left our own.

I wanted you to know that while I am a big fan of your pastoral staff, some of your church members have made it difficult to see myself coming back. Please know that I am praying for you as a staff, that you will have wisdom and for the body of Christ to see themselves as what they are. Sinners, Saints, Ministers and Sharers of the Gospel... even at a local restaurant.

Stephanie Windon