A Question of Order

A simple question I'm contemplating today as a pastor: Does anyone think that anyone can conduct a church service with one disruption after another? We, at Grace Fellowship (where I am pastor) believe in Paul's instructions that "everything must be done in an orderly manner". 

Several years ago a teen would come to church without his parents (or when his parents were there would sit separately from them) and would disrupt the service by acting up the entire time with his friends. People complained (and some left) that we needed to do something about the disruptive people because they could not worship nor could they listen to the teaching. 

After talking to the child and his parents many, many times, we spoke to the parents one last time and let them know that their son needed to be accompanied by a parent and sit with his parents from that point on, or he was not welcome to attend. Well this mother went ballistic saying, "everyone should be welcome in the house of God". 

Everyone should be and everyone IS welcome at Grace Fellowship. However, everyone should consider his neighbor no matter where he happens to be. In a movie theater, disruptions are not tolerated. In and orchestra hall, disruptions are not tolerated. In a theatrical performance of a play, disruptions are not tolerated. At a public speech, disruptions will not be tolerated etc, etc, etc. Why in the world would we expect that when God's Word is being taught anyone should be allowed to interrupt and disturb others from hearing what God would like to say to His church?

It's been many years and this young man has grown up and been welcomed in services many times since and has behaved without incident. His mom, dad, brother and sister have attended as well. 

I invited this woman, who has since left her husband and all of her children, to one of our church events for Christmas and she blasts me again over this incident which occurred many years ago. I was kind of blown away at this and it has bothered me, not because of this woman's accusations, but because of the mindset that seems to pervade our society.

I write this to say that we live in a society that is so self-centered that many will not require their children to be good citizens and behave properly in public. Why? Mostly because it takes hard work, patience and consistency to discipline a child properly. As parents, we need not blame the institution that will demand that we behave with a certain amount of decorum in public. We should correct our children and teach them that their behavior affects others around them.

We often wonder why our world is in the shape it's in. I truly believe it's largely because many parents refuse to be parents anymore. It's inconvenient. It's more convenient to be a buddy than a parent. The Bible admonishes us to "train up a child in the way he SHOULD go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Too many parents have given up this admonition by scripture and hope that others will train their children for them. They won't. If you are a parent, it is your God-given calling and no one else's to train your child to be a productive citizen in this world. I commend all of you who have taken God's command and calling to train your children seriously. I commend you for the hard work and I can say from experience, the hard work pays off in the end.

Well that's my rant for today. 

Until later,

Don