Capital Campaign Follies

April 10, 2008 by
Filed under: Religion 

As I mentioned, I’m a visit steward for the church’s capital campaign.  I was assigned 3 families to visit – ironically all with a church officer.

One of the families didn’t sound like they wanted a visit, and have a good reason not to give to the campaign.  I had asked them to get back to me with their availability for next week but if they don’t I completely understand.

Another family had allowed me to schedule a visit for tonight.  When I got home I found a message on my answering machine telling me that they were too busy tonight and cancelling – also stating that I could call if I wanted to.  So I did.

Her:  Hello?
Me:  Hello.  I got your message about tonight.
Her:  I’m sorry, but I’m very busy with stuff tonight.  I have a lot of family stuff going on and we’ve already decided not to give to the campaign.
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Her:  I RESENT THAT QUESTION.  GOOD BYE.  Click.

I was honestly trying to determine whether to reschedule of if she’d just like me to go away and not bother her.  I wasn’t told in training what to do if someone refuses a visit, but I’d contact the team leader and find out.

Thankfully, the third family will meet with me and tell me that they are going to give to the campaign and have already figured out how much.  I’m also able to do that visit right before a meeting coming up because we’re on the same committee.  Thank you for being the easy one.

This experience has really turned me off to this campaign and it’s starting to turn me off to the congregation as a whole.  Maybe I need to think about finding another church or getting my Sunday mornings back to read the paper and relax.  I do a LOT for this church.  I don’t need to be put in the position of trying to talk to people who don’t want to talk to me, but aren’t willing to come out and say so.

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Comments

3 Comments on Capital Campaign Follies

  1. Sara on Sat, 12th Apr 2008 8:06 pm

    2. wow…… I can see what you said about the controversy. In many ways I agree with communicating openly and honestly but as we all know there is this small ingredient called subtlety that is always hard to master for some 😉 Maybe it’s the Libra in me!! I want everyone to be happy and fee valued 🙂 I hear that you feel left out of things and that makes me sad because we all value your open heart and hard work. It has only been recently when I have been able to attend worship more regularly that I have felt as close to the church as when I was a kid but as we all know it is a different ball game when you become an adult in the church. We are called to honor our past and carry that tradition into the future. For the members of our church who haven’t been with us for that 5 year time frame you were mentioning today, they may not have had time yet to experience what that tradition is, where others feel it when they walk into their first service. I think that is why it is so important for the church to have the open door committee that you are on. It helps us find out where we are and how we can open the church and it’s mission to others who may not know it. Heck it may help me with figuring our what that is!! While we have all these new members and their ideas helping us grow, there are others that are afraid of the unknown and what that change might do to our mission and purpose. I think you should know that I do value your willingness to open up and express what you feel even if that means that you are asking the hard questions. I think with that you need to realize that not everyone else does, and by opening up in such a frank manner it may make the people that you are most “worried” about take a few extra steps back afraid to stand too close to the fire. At some point you need to decide how important that is to you, if it’s important to you at all. Know that no matter how crazy you become there are people that love you and support you. I can’t say that we will always agree with you, but that is what makes us individuals and children of God! See you tomorrow!!

  2. Yes … : Mark Time on Tue, 20th Jan 2009 2:21 pm

    3. […] Yes … I do realize just how poorly worded my question was in the conversation I wrote about yesterday. […]

  3. Picking up the pieces … : Mark Time on Tue, 20th Jan 2009 2:26 pm

    4. […] experience, and the reaction to it (some of which isn’t written here), have seriously damaged my […]

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