Church, or awkward teenager?

Full disclosure: I'm a member of a congregation that is chronologically old enough to be a senior in high school, if it studied hard. We've struggled with a membership plateau and are grateful and excited to have been selected to participate in our Conference's new Congregational Transformation initiative. For me, that work can't begin soon enough.

Sometimes when I come face to face with one of our problems, I picture our congregation as an awkward teenager. With acne and braces and glasses and a bad haircut. For some reason, that helps.

And sometimes I come across a piece of writing that lets me know we aren't alone in that awkward phase. This week it has been, once again, from Dan Dick, whose writing has occasionally appeared in the Reporter print edition. But what really drove it home this time was a blog entry from David Camphouse, pastor of St. Andrew UMC in Ojai, California, in which he linked to a post of Dan's. So read what David has to say, then click on through to Dan.

Also, in a more recent post, Dan reveals that he is an old fart. By his definition, so am I.