In Irreverence Lost

Sometimes I allow bad behavior in my Sunday School class with the rationale that it is better to have a disruptive student in my class where they have some chance of learning something, however remote, rather than have then go somewhere else because church is "no fun."

Recently a man related to me the cause (as he attributed it) of his inactivity in the Church as a youth. He went to church classes and all the kids were rowdy. He figured that that wasn't what God wanted and it certainly wasn't helping him to learn, so he stopped going.

I've been afraid to lose kids because I'm too strict. Now I'm hearing that we can lose kids if we're not strict enough. The same gentleman further pointed out the danger in loosening our standards of behavior to accomodate a few. What is the point, he reasoned, of a church that doesn't change people and turn them into something better than they would have been otherwise? What is the help of a Church that says, "we'll take you as you are and that's just fine with us"?

Any religion worth the time and effort must NOT accept us as we are. It must accept us only inasmuch as we are willing to strive for change. Otherwise, what is the point? If that's not what you're looking for, join a bowling league or a reading club. But the Church is about changing who we are. I need to be a better Sunday School teacher.