Towards the end of my long urban ministry, a committee accused me of having alienated members who had left the Church. This does not mean that the Church had declined. It had continued to grow. I said give me a chance, I'll bring their resignation letters. These letters stated members' reasons for leaving. They revealed tenderness, conscience, thankfulness. There wasn't anything about alienation. The committee was rattled -- they wanted to see that these people had actually written what I was reading. But the story persisted. It was put to me that I would leave in the interests of regaining alienated members. However, when I left, the Church entered a period of massive alienation. It was much emptier than it had been at its emptiest in my ministry of (almost) 20 years. I didn't hear of any committee then, or that anyone would leave in the interests of regaining alienated members.
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