Church Perception vs. Reality

Perception and reality may at times be far apart in a Church. Here is a real example. In city ministry, we held an annual fête -- and a smaller, in between fête which we called the Mini-Market. During my late wife Mirjam's final year (2010), organisers of the Mini-Market said to me a week before the event: "This [the Mini-Market] doesn't work!" They felt that we should shut it down. I encouraged them to continue. A week later, with results in  hand, we had an 80% increase over the previous year. Perception and reality could hardly have been further apart. OBSERVATION: It shows how sentiments in a Church may diverge from reality. At times, the sentiments may lead to something as drastic as closing down a group or a programme -- but I mean, where the sentiments are surely mistaken. Mirjam commented in 2010: "It's like that every year." In a way it was, yes -- but 2010 was different. I think that Mirjam's illness may have changed the mood.