It Takes Two

It takes two to tango. So the saying goes- I wouldn't know, because I can't tango! However, I get the point.

There are a lot of things that take two people to happen. Discussion, friendship, communication, fights, community, etc. Do you get the point? Here's where I'm headed today: it takes two to be part of a Christian fellowship.

I've been a leader of a "Christian fellowship" for quite a few years. Over those years, I've noticed a very wide variety of types of people who comprise those fellowships. Now, I'm not big on compartmentalizing people, but sometimes, its just obvious. I've observed that, as far as getting involved in any fellowship, there are 4 types of people:

1) The Try Hards.
These people believe and practice the saying: "You get what you put into something." So they work hard at developing relationships with people. They usually get a lot out of their relationships, because, well- they've put a lot into them!

2) The Circumstancers.
These people feel like developing relationships sometimes, so then they do. But when they don't feel like it, they don't. Depends on the circumstances. Needless to say, they experience on-again-off-again relationships.

3) The Halfers (halvers?).
These people work at developing relationships with some of the people (maybe half), because they only like some (probably less than half) of the people. The rest they don't want to relate to, because they're just so different than them.

4) The Try Nots.
These people don't try at all to develop relationships with the people of their church. They believe everyone else is supposed to come to them (and go out of their way) time and time again, even with no effort on their part to respond. Interesting note: You can be sure they talk the loudest about how no one cares about them. No one talks to them or no one ever makes any effort toward them. They even say this to the very people who work the hardest at bringing them deeper into the fellowship. These people are often church-hoppers, going from place to place never finding the perfect Christian fellowship.

{Ahem} It takes two.

Maybe I shouldn't feel this way, but I'm tired of cajoling people to be a part of my fellowship and then hearing how no one really cares about them. What am I? Chopped liver? I care- I really do. On Sundays, there are tons of people who want personal time with me and I make it a point to give it to them. Yet it's inevitable that I leave the corps feeling like I should have talked with so-and-so. In the end, I know I talked with everyone who really wanted to connect with me. But those who thought someone should have come to them, usually leave feeling angry or hurt that no one came to them.

I may be exasperated now and then, but I'm not ready to give up on these people yet. One of these days, God's going to break through in their lives and they're going to see that relationships don't just happen! It takes two.