The Ministry Of The Back Row

                The back row in church.

                Over the years that I served as a Pastor there were times when there would be plenty of seats yet, there were people sitting on the back row.  I admit; that bothered me.  I would ask people to “come down and join us” implying that where they were sitting there was so much space between me and them that they couldn’t take part in the service.

                But in the last year, I’ve begun to see the significance of the back row differently. 

                Last year, there was a time when I was doing some soul-searching.  I was praying about planting a church and dealing with various issues.  At that time, I wasn’t employed by a church so my Sunday’s were free.  One Sunday morning, we got up and I admit, I was not planning on going to church.  Didn’t want to. 

                But, at the last minute, I told Holli we needed to go so we threw some casual clothes on and went to a local church (it was a church where casual dress didn’t matter).  As we entered the sanctuary, I looked for seats as far back as we could get.  As we did, I thought “I’m doing the very thing I’ve gotten aggravated with people for doing… sitting as far back as you can.”  Only this time, I saw it differently. 

                I wanted to connect with God but at this time, I didn’t necessarily want to deal with people.  So, we sat on the back row.  My plan was  to leave before the crowd because I didn’t want to talk to anyone. 

                As we sat in worship a picture that came to mind was a person who had one toe in the door of the church while the rest of their body was outside.  That’s kind of where I was.  I wanted to worship God but I wasn’t real excited about the church deal at that time. 

                Maybe you have been there.  Maybe you are there now.  You love God and you want to worship but you don’t necessarily want to get to know a lot of folks.  You don’t want to answer a lot of questions.  So, when you go, you sit on the back row.

                It hit me one  day; “there is a ministry on the back row.”  Often, it has people who are hurting.. but they want to reach out to God. 

                So, Pastor… church staff member… if someone is sitting on the back row.. leave them alone.  It may not mean they are rebelling.. they may be hurting.  They are sitting where they are because they want to worship and but don’t want to deal with people.. … just yet.