Churches Not Good About Answering Messages

Union With Christ said:

You may be able to help but honestly I am emailing these particular Pastors because I am inquiring about the doctrine of their church.

I am speaking with my Pastor about the topic of theosis and deification. I sent him an email asking him about John 10:34 when Jesus says, “ye are gods” but he did not respond.

I also sent him another email asking him about judgement and rewards and levels of heaven.

Then the third email I sent him that went unanswered was about Andrew Murray.

I am also emailing with an Orthodox Priest and my question to him is concerning the Orthodox view on the sabbath and I am also asking him if I can be rebaptized in their church.

Lastly, I am emailing with a Messianic church and I am inquiring about their doctrine of Annihilation on their church website.

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i'm beginning to see why you aren't getting answers right away - these aren't simple questions!

if you're trying to find a church, there a much simpler method - ask God, and follow His leading as confirmed by His Word via the Holy Spirit.

have you researched john 10:34 yourself? the E-Sword Bible app (free, available for PC and Mac) has multiple translations, dictionaries, and commentaries; and would be a good starting tool for this, and judgement and rewards and levels of heaven - MySword works similar for Android.

if you find a minister that will judge another minister, my advice would be to not believe them; even Arnold Murray wouldn't have done that

i agree with you that you need to go directly to a church to ask about their website though.

Union With Christ said:

I find it to be very rude. Why do they place their contact information on their website if they are not going to answer?

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I work for a nonprofit. That means that there is always more work to do than people to do it. I’d imagine that the church staff simply can’t keep up with everything they would like to do. It’s really hard when people assume I don’t care or am being negligent when in reality, I just can’t get to it all. I’d give them the benefit of the doubt.

At the office, I can either answer all my email or I can get some work done. I can't do both. I scan subject lines and make some snap decisions about what seems most important demanding an immediate answer and what can wait. Unfortunately those on the "it can wait" list often get shoved well down in the email list where I can't see them and sometimes get forgotten. I confess it.

So must first tip is pay attention to your subject line. Is it eye grabbing or oblique? For example a subject line that begins with "Question:" is more like to get answered than one that begins with "Hello there."

Secondly, in the age of texts and email, many of us expect immediate responses. That is not always possible when the person on the other end is otherwise engaged...doing a funeral, sitting with the dying, doing pastoral counseling, etc.

Finally, don't forget its COVID time. Many folks are now working remotely from home and may not have the technology to get work email from home and only pop into the office once in a while to get the essential done before retreating again.

I totally understand how frustrating it is when emails don't get answered. No-one likes to wait a long time for a reply to their messages.
I think one thing to bear in mind is that with the current Covid19 restrictions, resources are stretched. A lot of people are not currently able to meet their ministers/leaders face-to-face, so I can imagine they are receiving a lot of requests by e-mail and telephone, for prayer, for support, etc.
My own church doesn't have a large congregation, so people know each other quite well and are in contact with each other between the services. My priest is on social media and I regularly talk to him during the week and try to beat him at online Scrabble!

To be honest, pastors can be very busy people

I had this problem when I was looking for churches a few years ago. Not only did they not answer their e-mails but they never answered their phone or phone messages either after we called them several times.

It's like... you want more members in your church don't you?

Union With Christ said:

I find it to be very rude. Why do they place their contact information on their website if they are not going to answer?

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I've seen this at workplaces, perhaps some churches are the same. They don't want to deal with someone and ignoring their emails works perfectly until... show up at their front door and have a face to face.

I agree with those who said that Pastors can be busy people, particularly with the current COVID pandemic. He/she may be giving Holy Communion to people who cannot attend church at their homes or conducting funeral services. Also, depending on your questions the pastor may need to consult with the Bishop or with professors at your theological seminary.

Union With Christ said:

I am in the process of thinking about changing churches. One thing I‘ve really noticed lately is that churches are not good about answering their emails. I have had this same problem with three different churches that I have contacted in the past couple weeks. One of them is even my home church. I understand that people get busy but this seems to be quite a disservice to me. Aren’t churches supposed to be serving Christ and the community? Then why don’t they respond to emails and in a timely manner?

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Perhaps some of your questions or requests are in a category that your pastor does not feel comfortable answering.

As has been stated previously unusually high volumes of spam email prevent people from answering all of their email. In addition to emails there are Facebook posts that might number in the hundreds if one is active there. I remember going to a chemistry professor’s office for help at a university. He was not in his office during his scheduled office hours. We did not have the Internet back then. I probably should have gone to a pastor for help as I was on a path towards failure. One pastor I went to told me to read the Gospel of John ... good advice.

Union With Christ said:

I am in the process of thinking about changing churches. One thing I‘ve really noticed lately is that churches are not good about answering their emails. I have had this same problem with three different churches that I have contacted in the past couple weeks. One of them is even my home church. I understand that people get busy but this seems to be quite a disservice to me. Aren’t churches supposed to be serving Christ and the community? Then why don’t they respond to emails and in a timely manner?

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Good practice is to call first then send the email.

So you sent six emails in the span of how long? Six emails in a week, heck, even a month is a lot of emails.

My thought is that it is a pandemic and in person services should be limited which requires more email and phone contact, people may be working from home and juggling all that calls for, we are headed to the holidays and that brings an uptick of people in crisis in the best of times, and there is a school (which is down an administrator) associated with the church and they are likely required to do an unprecedented amount of communicating with parents... Not to mention, we are talking about emailing other humans with their own needs and challenges. They’re likely getting absolutely overwhelmed with communication needs in all directions and, to be perfectly frank, what you’re emailing about is not time sensitive or of critical importance. This looks like an opportunity for you to practice patience, grace, and to remember we are the center of our own world, not everybody else’s.

Union With Christ said:

Then why don’t they respond to emails and in a timely manner?

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Churches can be hugely stretched, the amount of administrative and legal compliance work that is required to keep a church in operation is huge. Then there's pastoral work. Church offices quite often receive a huge volume of emails, some of them directly related to the church, pastoral issues etc, others from people outside the church often asking obscure questions. For example activists emailing and asking what the position of the church is on various issues like same sex relations, trying to trip us up.

I would just be patient and gentle with your leaders, especially if the question is not particularly urgent. God Bless

Here is yet another set of things to think about that comes out of my experience. How long does it take someone to write the depth of response you wish, how many requests does he/she get like that in a day or week, and how many hours are they willing to allot time to respond to them?

I mentor some other folks in my profession. Periodically, I get inquiry emails asking how I might do something or to critique someone's thoughts and plans. I often respond to those kinds of in depth inquiries during the evening because I can't take myself away from the actual work to answer during the day. And when I respond, it is not a 5 minute email. My process might start with re-reading the inquiry, thinking about the nuances of the question, organizing my thoughts and researching before composing, then proofreading, correcting, and re-writing. The next thing you know 30 minutes to an hour have sailed by and my wife is wondering when I might step away from the computer and spend a few minutes of my day with her. If I have more than one of those kinds of requests in a day, someone is unlikely to get an answer right away. I am sorry about that but I have to maintain some work/life balance, or I won't be fit for doing the work.

Union With Christ said:

Maybe six emails is a lot but how am I supposed to get answers on doctrine if I don’t communicate. Sit down discussions on each of these issues would probably take much longer.

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By researching on your own, finding other trusted resources, or by simply being patient and waiting until it’s your turn to be dealt with...

Again, six emails over how long?