I joined a church in January of 2010, which i was part of for a little more than 2 yrs. Early on, it became obvious that the church did not have my demographic - Single and mid-30's. In a church of 1,500, there were only a handful of people I knew of who fit that description. I liked the preaching, and I was a youth leader, but I wasn't able to connect.

In the 2 yrs I was there, I was not able to make any deep, meaningful relationships. After 2 yrs of attending the church, I would still walk around after service, feeling like a new person with no one to talk to, as I watched people talk to one another.

After I left the church, it took me almost a year to find a church where I felt I could connect. The first Sunday I was there, as the congregation sang worship songs, I told God, "If this is the church for me, I need to know they are going to connect me to other people." That morning, the pastor's message was that the purpose of the church (that specific church) was to connect people to God, to their purpose, and to one another. I couldn't have gotten a more clear answer and 1 1/2 yr.s later that is my home church.

Before my current church, I chose churches based only on where I felt I could do ministry; though, after a time, for one reason or another, I would get burnt out or get offended because I felt they only cared about my ability to serve and not me. When I sought out a new church, I decided to be selfish and look for a church that would minister to my needs. Of course, I also minister there, but I didn't start volunteering there until I had been there for several months.

People sometimes get so caught up in doing ministry that they get burnt out. They forget that Jesus not only ministered to people, but He was also ministered to (Matt. 4:11; Lk 7:38). There are many times in scripture when Jesus put His own well-being before the demands of the crowds (John 2:4; 11:6). It's so easy for us to think we are being good Christians when we are ministering to people, but we forget that we need to be ministered to.

If a church consists of people who only want to minister to people, but those people don't take the time to care for the nourishment of their own well-being, there is no one within the church to minister to and the church becomes unhealthy. People then get burnt out and leave because they are so busy ministering, but they aren't being ministered to. The church then needs to reach out to those people and seek to restore them into the fellowship rather than just watch them leave. And they need to reach out and figure out what is causing people to leave, so they can encourage people to stay.

Hi Ron,

Great word. Recently, my church's worship pastor said, "Routine is the enemy of intimacy." Of course, that can be said of going through the motions in our Christian walk. Though, perhaps God sometimes screws up our plans because we try to create a routine in our day to day lives to accomplish our goals. But we need to focus on His plan for our lives and align ourselves with Him through prayer and knowing His word, so that our goals become His goals.

Erick