Monthly Archive for January, 2009

Apathy…it’s a word we all hate to hear because it generally means a lack of passion or excitement. When that word has been used to describe a current state of being at a place of worship, it’s definitely not good.

The church I attend has had a serious battle with apathy attacking some or all people in the congregation. There’s reason for it too — attendance is dwindling, we’re running out of money, and the building is falling apart around us. Literally and figuratively, our church could collapse at any moment.

But as much as there is room for apathy, there’s room for hope. The bus ministry has helped us reach an audience of up to thirty young people each Wednesday night. People are coming to know Christ, and there is a set vision for the church in place.

So why is the apathy there?

Well, it was documented that in the last prayer meeting, the Holy Spirit spoke through a message in tongues and interpretation, saying plainly that the apathy was a spirit and we needed to rebuke it.

I can buy that for a dollar, even with my misgivings about tongues and interpretations in my church.

But I don’t know if the line has been clearly drawn between someone being apathetic and simply being a realist.

Let me put it this way:

A good real-life scenario is that the church is losing money each month and does not have the funds nor personnel to fix a building that is crumbling around us.

The spiritualist in this instance says God is going to provide, not knowing how but he’s going to do it…and they wait for the Lord to provide a solution.

The realist in this instance says there is no way given our current situation that we can stay here in this building…let’s sell it to the highest bidder and go rent a place to worship. They want a solution now before the situation becomes insurmountable.

The spiritualist and realist in this instance butt heads. But see, this is where a healthy dose is needed of both spiritualism and realism. Me being more of the realist, I’m sure there is a happy medium so I’ll let the more spiritually attuned people chime in.

I also think apathy could be linked in with introversion. Our church has a large number of introverts as opposed to extroverts when it comes to regular attendees, and that poses a simple problem. When people don’t get out and don’t make efforts to communicate with everyone, you’ve got the breeding ground for an apathetic spirit among the introvert (never tries to reach out), the extrovert (reaching out and fruitlessly trying to get the introverts to reach out as well) and the new people (“why are only a few people talking to me?”) right there.

The best way to beat apathy here is to get involved — get in the Word and stay in it, and get out of the comfort zones so easily built. That’s it.

But if someone is a realist, on the other hand…you’re not going to easily shake their points of view.

Because I’m a realist, I tend to think we are over-spiritualizing our problems at times. If we all looked at practical solutions to the situations facing our church, put our heads together and started thinking instead of waiting for God to say something that has a good chance of getting lost in translation, the apathy will go away and good things will start happening.

Personally I’d like to see the apathy disposed of, and ultimately my church move onto a place physically and spiritually conducive to everyone being benefited in equal fashion.

Now since I’m a realist, does that make me apathetic in your view? And how can we better distinguish between apathy and realism in the church?

Your thoughts are most certainly entertained and welcome.