tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078186.post8752738686574949672..comments2023-09-15T07:56:24.716-05:00Comments on The Chaotic Hammer: LeechesChaotic Hammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713799579650424883noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078186.post-33309058970993711222008-03-25T21:52:00.000-05:002008-03-25T21:52:00.000-05:00Amy - Hmmm. Good point about the attendance not ma...Amy - Hmmm. Good point about the attendance not making a difference. I guess I'm thinking that if we are well-fed spiritually and don't really benefit from the music or preaching, we could be working with the children or in the nursery or something. They are <I>always</I> asking for volunteers. I wonder how many young parents only get a break from the busyness of life on Sunday mornings and would be blessed by this. But then again, we offer this type of help to several different families we know, and have been able to bless various folks by sharing our time and energy when they have needs. So it is a trading off of one service opportunity for another, because we have more free time and energy by not having to worry about our routines being wrapped around organization-related commitments.<BR/><BR/>Regarding the finances, we really haven't been giving anything to the big church since we stopped attending. We support parachurch organizations like Compassion and others, we have missionary friends that we directly support, and we meet needs among friends and neighbors in our community. The net result is that we have been giving a larger and larger percentage of our income away, and have been willing to stretch way beyond what we thought we could, because we are directly aware of and involved in meeting specific needs. I don't know exactly why, but giving a generic amount to a generic organization out of perceived obligation just doesn't elicit the same response for us. We believe that if the church is doing what they should be with the money we give, it will end up in the same place we're giving it anyway. But we don't have the professional staff and building funds and stuff to worry about.Chaotic Hammerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17713799579650424883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20078186.post-80020681520499969302008-03-25T20:54:00.000-05:002008-03-25T20:54:00.000-05:00This is an interesting question, but I'm not sure ...This is an interesting question, but I'm not sure that your attendance on Sunday morning would actually make that big of a difference. The only thing I can really see here is the financial issue. Do you not give anything at all to the big church? Because I think you are still involved via service projects, right?Amyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02515314638093018928noreply@blogger.com