When was in Seminary, I took 15 months off between my second and third year to serve an internship at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. Highland Park was a big church- over 7,000 members at the time. Sanctuary was as large enough to hold several thousand people. As an intern they thought it would be helpful for me to attend their leadership team’s meeting- their session. Their session had about 60 members. They met in a room where they sat in rows- airline style. That night the chairman of the worship committee brought a motion to the session to help people meet and greet each other either during or after the service. They recommended a pad where people would sign it,pass it down the aisle, and when it reached the end; pass it back so that people could read the names of the people who were sitting next to them and perhaps speak to them after the service is over.

After hearing the worship chairman’s presentation, I thought this was a slam dunk- but one of the elders raised his hand to speak against it. First he said that when he came to church on Sunday morning and sat down in his pew, he did not want not be interrupted by some pad being passed, and he certainly didn’t want anyone to know his name before, after, or during the worship service, because " when I come to church all I want to do is to sit in my pew and worship God all by myself."

And then to really make his point with what he thought would sink the motion all together—He said,” It sounds too Baptist for me…”

I know I was there as an observer, and I wasn’t supposed to speak, but I raised my hand to speak in favor of the pad idea, and I said, that this isn’t too baptist because my home church- First Presbyterian in Florence S.C. had adopted the fellowship pad idea a few years earlier.

But what was that Elder really saying when he said, “All I want to do is sit in My Pew, and worship God all by myself?”

Basically he was saying that he didn’t need anyone, in any way, in order to worship God. He really believed that it is possible to give God all the honor and glory that God deserves without anyone else’s assistance… It is possible to serve God all by himself and it is possible to be a Christian all by himself and that he didn't need help from anybody.

I am not sure where he got this view of the church and the Christian life. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.

The Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 12 said, "14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. …. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"

For the Apostle Paul the human body is a great metaphor for the church. In the human body, no one part can exist all by itself. Every part is dependent upon every other part for its health and well being. So it is with the church as the Body of Christ. That makes everyone important in the life of the church. All people matter, because everyone brings something the church needs to the table; some gift, some talent, some perspective, or some passion. If a church is grow deep and wide,less is not more.