Am I (or are we) being paranoid

First - let me say - let's give it up for Adele!!  What a talent.

OK - now to the topic at hand.  In January, we had our first Women's Group at church.  Things went along pretty well - and open - until Pastor C showed up.  Then, it all stopped, and the group left.

This time his sister, our "Minister for Community ..." came.  Now, we cannot very easily exclude her.  She is, after all, a woman.  But with this brother/sister team working, a lot of us feel that there are multiple road blocks given to any thought that might not fit their plan.

Our children's ministry, as I have noted before, is almost non-existent.  The children meet for approximately 15 minutes for their lesson.  This is during the sermon.  On our website, that is listed as a good thing.  They are able to stay in church with their parents and yada, yada, yada.  The teachers for these kiddos would love for them to be in class longer.  There are a lot of adults that would like to have a Sunday School for themselves.  Simply not available.

If you are a young person past 6th grade (13.14) there is no educational program for you at all.  There is no LYO, there is nothing.  It is stated that they have the opportunity to go to meetings all over and meet others.  Not. So. Much.  Never, Has. Happened.  This year (out of four others) is the first confirmation class.  And only because it meets at the same time as one of the preferred "small groups" that meet EVERY week meets.  So it is a cycle of 10 meetings, then another 10 meetings.  After that - you are on your own, kids.

Back to my original.  Our lay minister was there.  Things felt strained already.  We began the meeting - still looking for hopes and dreams from the women there for this group.  Everything we proposed was shot down.  I was left hanging trying to run the meeting.  She found reasons for not doing anything we suggested.

At the beginning, she said she had to leave at 1:30.  The meeting began at 12:30.  That was to include snacking, visiting, and making some decisions.  One hour wasn't going to cut it.  When that hour came, Lay-minister said to decide on one thing and pray.  Then get out.

She was successful in getting the meeting to end - somewhat.  When she left, our Education person also left. That caused others to also go.  But we didn't decide on one thing to do, nor did we pray.  I put off the prayer - I had one topic that HAD to be covered.  We wanted input on childcare for the ensuing meetings.  We had to decide that.

So Sister left.  Several others also filtered out.  Daughter was able to come in then.  Lady Bug had a basketball game, so I knew they were going to be late.  I saw them come to the door, but then walk away.  I wondered why, but we still managed to have 8 of the 11 people who were there for the meeting.  The conversation was going well.  We were really talking about the things we were interested in doing.  Far away from Sister's idea.

Later Daughter came in.  She was talking to Pastor C.  Well - guess what.  He was there because Sister had to leave.  My daughter told him we were having a women's meeting, and he should stay away until it looked like things were breaking up, then come down to get something to eat.  She has obviously developed a good relationship (friendship) with him.  She warned him before she would tell him like is was.

This situation bothers me.  I have a good relationship with Pastor C as well.  We have taken him to eat many times, we have gone to his outreach things during the day, we (and this shouldn't matter) are in his top 10 giving families.  He should know I have chosen his church over his friend's church (it was our family church until one of the big blow ups that runs people off from that church).  He should know I love our little church, and I want the best.  He really does not have to be there.  We are not planning an overthrow.  I feel really sad that this group that has all our generations in it is being monitored this way.

We want to do things like fund raising.  That is a dirty word to C.  He doesn't feel that it does any real good.  We want to get our name out there.  This is the desire of the "Top 10" as well.  We are not being radical.  He has tried his way, please let us try something.

I have the feeling that we have the positives of this group meeting the negatives and secrecy that has been prevalent with our Ministry Team.  They have turned so many off already.  My real prayer is that this group can continue to grow in fellowship and service to each other, the church, and the community.  Right now we feel we should concentrate on each other and the church.  They feel the community.  

Sorry for the long rant.  Had to get my feelings out.  Out of internet for the next week.  Catch you all in a week.

Peace.