by Mrs Haruo » Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:05 am
"This has led to a certain cliqueness where sets of people who eat out together wait at a designated spot for all to congregate and decide where to eat. We have a group of 6 couples. I try to change that in our group by asking other couples to join when we are light, but it has only stuck a couple of times."
Thats the kind of behavior that has left me lonely and broken hearted a couple times when I was single and trying to get back on my feet again after a painful divorce. Alone in a new town, with a new job that paid just enough for me to get a cheap apartment and a few items from the dollar store to make it look more like "home", I was hoping to find a new church home and make some new friends like I had at my last church a couple states away. I opened up my new phone book and found a church just a couple blocks away in a denomination I was familiar with and walked over there one Sunday. People seemed pleasant enough, the music was uplifting, the sermon was interesting, with the pastor telling a few jokes on himself to illustrate the topic and I was starting to feel right at home. Then the benediction and a few "I hope you come back next week" remarks---- the next thing I knew everyone had raced out of the parking lot with me alone in a cloud of dust and gravel. There are a lot of people who are hungry for a lot more than a piece of Sister Whistlestop's chocolate cake and a cup of coffee, its knowing that there are people who care about you and getting to know other people's triumphs and troubles are an important part of keeping a church strong and a "Fellowship Hour" is building relationships between people.
Don't despair if your job and your rewards are few, remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you!