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Our church just got that much smaller

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FireDragon76

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Today at church, our pastor told us that one of our readers, Shirley, has gone to be with the Lord.

Our church is getting smaller and smaller. I think this is the lot many mainline Protestant churches. We've only had two other person join the church in the past year, and several inquirers have disappeared off the radar.
 
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FireDragon76 said:
Today at church, our pastor told us that one of our readers, Shirley, has gone to be with the Lord.

Our church is getting smaller and smaller. I think this is the lot many mainline Protestant churches. We've only had two other person join the church in the past year, and several inquirers have disappeared off the radar.
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Prayers for Shirley. I am not part of the UCC, but have noticed a lot of churches are shrinking.
 
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AlexB23 said:
Prayers for Shirley. I am not part of the UCC, but have noticed a lot of churches are shrinking.
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I am not worried about her soul in the least. It is we that would need her prayers. She was a person that lived a life of quiet intimacy with God and kindness towards others.

Our church could use prayer, however. I think people would like to see more people come through the door.
 
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FireDragon76 said:
I am not worried about her soul in the least. It is we that would need her prayers. She was a person that lived a life of quiet intimacy with God and kindness towards others.

Our church could use prayer, however. I think people would like to see more people come through the door.
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I will pray for the increase in Christianity itself and more churches in general. I do not have enough information to operate on to pray for a specific denomination which I know little about.
 
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We are still working with Shirley's family for funeral arrangements, but it is difficult. They don't seem to be responding, and some of the church elders are concerned about being intrusive.
 
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We had a memorial service, finally, for Shirley.

I am not a fan of the style of funeral, frankly. There was a traditional memorial service liturgy of sorts, but it was relatively informal and it had alot of eulogizing and "roasting". Not really a fan, but I guess that's the cultural zeitgeist now. On the other hand, I learned alot of details about Shirley's surprisingly colorful life. I also learned, through subtext, she lived a lonely life at times, in many ways a very talented person who probably left things unfulfilled due to circumstances beyond her control, and her church and her faith in God were consolations, and that's how I prefer to remember her, not focusing on her flaws or things we found annoying about her.
 
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FireDragon76 said:
We had a memorial service, finally, for Shirley.

I am not a fan of the style of funeral, frankly. There was a traditional memorial service liturgy of sorts, but it was relatively informal and it had alot of eulogizing and "roasting". Not really a fan, but I guess that's the cultural zeitgeist now. On the other hand, I learned alot of details about Shirley's surprisingly colorful life. I also learned, through subtext, she lived a lonely life at times, in many ways a very talented person who probably left things unfulfilled due to circumstances beyond her control, and her church and her faith in God were consolations, and that's how I prefer to remember her, not focusing on her flaws or things we found annoying about her.
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I hope her family and friends found peace.

God bless you
 
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RileyG said:
I hope her family and friends found peace.

God bless you
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Sadly, Shirley didn't seem to have alot of friends or family. The church was her family and friends, for the most part.

I think people are still processing the loss. Shirley was our reader at church, she read the Scriptures nearly every Sunday.
 
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FireDragon76 said:
Sadly, Shirley didn't seem to have alot of friends or family. The church was her family and friends, for the most part.

I think people are still processing the loss.
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I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she knew she was loved.

Take care
 
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