I remember during the years of being members at churches, a lot of people thought I was in leadership at the churches I attended because of the impact I made on their lives. I would visit with people, call, help, encourage, teach and do whatever I can to help them grow. They thought I was a “pastor.” The truth was that I did not even have a leadership role among volunteers. I was simply a member.

That level of involvement transformed my church experience and added so much value to the church than I could imagine.

What was beautiful about it all is that there were others doing the same thing at the same time at the same churches, multiplying the effects many times over.

a practical way this can happen is, not to openly criticize the church too much with just anyone.

that being said, i did leave my home church after many years and it was a very good decision. i will probably never go back, but i recognize that church had much to do with making me the the christian i am today, so for that i’ll always be thankful and they’ll always be important to me. but my personal opinion regarding that church is that their season may be coming to an end and they’re holding on to old ways of “doing church” that are not as effective as they once were. anyway. that’s that. another comment in your nice comment box.