A few years back, a minister got the idea to start a church for singles only. He believed that singles were the most over looked group in any church. So, by starting a church for singles only, he hoped to reach out to that often neglected element of the church.

One of the rules for membership in the church was that you had to be single. He was afraid that the marrieds would get control of the church and over run the singles. So, if you got married, you had to move on to a different church.

Some of the people who joined that church were divorced, some were widowed, and some had just never gotten married for what ever reason.

As time went on, a lot of the singles joined the church, found mates, married and moved on to a different church. But there was a small element of singles that did not find mates. Why? Because there was some serious character flaw in them that made them undesirable to others.

The church ran smoothly for a while. But, after a few years, as more and more singles joined the church, got married and left, the singles with the character flaws became the majority in the church. Soon, the church was over run with members who had flawed personalities, and they didn’t get along with anyone.

After five years, the church closed. But, it didn’t close because of a lack of membership. It closed because no one in the church could get along with anyone else in the church. In short, they could never reach a consensus on any thing. So the church ground to a halt.

In my own church, I have seen a lot of good people join and a few people who are not so good. The good people stay for a while but ultimately they are driven out by the not so good people. When you are not the only church in town, the good people have options and so they leave. I suspect that we will be gone by summer.