No two people are exactly alike, we each carry something different about us. You will always find those you click with, those you aren't overly sure of, and those you just don't feel right about. Even though you love your church family, some of them are known for boiling your potatoes in some way or other. Here are some of them in the pews.
1 The thinker- You'll find this person often chatting up the pastor afterword about things that were said in the sermon. They either carry a notebook or smart phone, and jot down notes or talking points.
2 The First- This is the one to jump in to projects. Potluck, they'll be there to open the doors, trip to rally, you can rest assured that they will be ready six months early. They often spread themselves far too thin, and have a meltdown if things aren't according to their well organized plans.
3 The Silent Partner- This person often takes a backseat to their more vibrant teammate the First. They prefer working behind the scenes to make sure the First stays even. They, in their outside of church lives often quietly go about their lives and don't take credit for the work they do.
4 The Church Hopper- This one's selfexplanitory and falls in to two camps.
A., they haven't found a church that suits exactly what they want.
B., they cherry pick everything from different churches, but never choose one.
5 The Meal Lady- This is often an older well respected member of the congregation, who usually works with a team of similar age women in the church preparing all the meals. You are forever grateful to them when they stocked your freezer with soups, stews, and casseroles after you broke your leg last winter.
6. The shake up- This one comes in a couple of forms.
One is that fresh young pastor just waiting to roll up his/her sleeves and get to preaching. This might cause some disturbance among the older more conservative congregants as his/her preaching style is really different.
The other is the one who came to potluck last Christmas with his/her aunt and uncle, and came rolling back with a new sermon series being preached. They sometimes make it home base, but usually they stay just long enough to turn things upside-down and then they leave.
7. The Boundary breaker- Depending on how big or ethnically diverse your church is, this one doesn't always take the hint. You yourself may have grown up in a culture that tends to be more stoic, and at the least sign of you seeming down, there they are trying to hug your problems away.
8 One of the original members- This one you can learn from, especially if your church is really old. Every major milestone was celebrated for this person, their marriage to their high school sweetheart, the baptisms of all five of their children, the weddings of the children, and sixty-five years later the laying to rest of their spouse. Listen to them their wisdom is home spun.
9 The Debbie Downer AKA the legalist- This one can quote Scripture and verse, and has a stalker sense of all anyone does wrong. The kids are playing games at the church picnic, they have something for that, the music is no longer traditional, they have something for that, the sermons are shortened especially in football season, guess what, this one frowns on that.
10 The Odd one out- This one hits home for me in away. I moved from a suburban church when I left the suburbs for the inner-city. I started going to my new home church three years ago, and have loved it ever since! The environment is great, and there are tons of people just wanting to serve God and teach their children to have that desire.
One weekend we had what we call Community Day, this is where you bring a friend. I sat down at a table for lunch, and my friend had brought someone from her building. This person looked at me asking "do you realize you are the only white person in the room?` Shocked I scrambled for a witty reply, "I didn't know that, I'm just here to worship and make some friends." She was surprised. Later when I was talking with my mom she asked "How did you react?` I told her, "I didn't know, I'm just there to worship, and I don't know from color anyway.`
Gillie
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