Recently I asked a teacher about one of her students that I had not seen in several weeks. She said that he had not attended the last 4 classes. I asked her why and she didn’t know. She proceeded to tell me that she doesn’t want to push students to come to her class, that she didn’t want to intrude on their lives by calling them. She wants them to come only because they really want to. I suggested that possibly he was sick or had been in an accident. Wouldn’t even a text checking to see if the student was alright be a good thing? She just shook her head and walked away. The whole encounter made me sad.
Have you ever personally been in any type of group ( i.e. Sunday School Class, Bible Study) and you missed for a week or two or more because of very valid reasons. Perhaps you were sick or had been out of town. If absolutely no one in the entire class even called or texted to check on you, how would you feel? If I had been gone several weeks, my personal answer would be that the teacher/leader/group didn’t value me. They didn’t care about me. I would not consider it a welcoming group. And chances are I would never go back. Continue reading “Please Follow Up!”