Form Letters from Church

[jenptcfan]

This is partially written in fun, but it's a true story that happened to me a few weeks ago.

What's your opinion on the church using form letters? Do you think it's too impersonal? I attend a large church probably around 800 in worship each Sunday, but my small group (referenced as a LIFE group below) has less than 10 people. I recently received the following notecard in the mail:

Missed you this week

I just wanted to drop you a personal note letting you know that you were missed this past week in our LIFE group. I hope you will be able to be with us this next week.

If there is anything you need, please don't hesitate to call me. You are an important part of our church family, and it is good to see you in our group.

God Bless you this week,

(unsigned and no reference as to who sent it)


The kicker is that I was actually in LIFE group that week! :P

My personal stance on church form letters (or canned mail as my mom calls it) is that it's an effective way to reach several people at once. However, it'd probably be best not to try to masquerade it as a "personal note" and if you're going to masquerade it as a personal note, you should probably sign your name. :D

[rainbowpromise]

The kicker is that I was actually in LIFE group that week! :P



Did you miss the week before. Mail is not always on time even when our thoughts are.
But I agree, it should not have been put across as personal when it was really not.

[jusluvm]

I agree---and that is hilarious! Boy, would I be embarrassed to have forgotten to sign that letter. And you hadn't missed class anyway? ^_^

I'm the clerk at our little church and I do use a form letter for requesting a letter from another church or granting a letter from our church, but never for "personal" contact. We usually send a card with a personal note (hand written) inside.

[newbeliever02072005]

Oh Wow! Someone messed up big time there. I think you are right, they should atleast sign the card.

My thoughts are to bring this up to the leader of your group. Give him a little chuckle and then hopefully it might open up an opportunity to discuss a different method to reach out to the ones that have missed group.


Thank you for the laugh......Newbeliever :wave:

[jenptcfan]

Did you miss the week before. Mail is not always on time even when our thoughts are.
But I agree, it should not have been put across as personal when it was really not.
No, I was actually there the week before too.

I made breakfast for the group that morning, so I was running a little late. I guess they didn't mark me as present on the roll. And someone who wasn't involved in the class (a secretary or something) just went by what was on the roll.

I have a really weird church situation though. I presume that the card was supposed to be sent by the teacher of the class, but the teacher obviously does not really want to teach the class. He doesn't show up about 75% of the time, and when he does show up, he often appoints another member of the class to teach because he hasn't studied his lesson.

So, since the teacher wasn't there that Sunday, I guess they just went by what was on the roll.

[Tappanga]

I also go to a large church, but if my group was ten or so people and I got a form letter, I'd be pretty offended. For our small groups, we get phone calls.

But I still would have laughed if I'd have gotten that letter and I did attend.

[ZiSunka]

This is partially written in fun, but it's a true story that happened to me a few weeks ago.

What's your opinion on the church using form letters? Do you think it's too impersonal? I attend a large church probably around 800 in worship each Sunday, but my small group (referenced as a LIFE group below) has less than 10 people. I recently received the following notecard in the mail:

Missed you this week

I just wanted to drop you a personal note letting you know that you were missed this past week in our LIFE group. I hope you will be able to be with us this next week.

If there is anything you need, please don't hesitate to call me. You are an important part of our church family, and it is good to see you in our group.

God Bless you this week,

(unsigned and no reference as to who sent it)


The kicker is that I was actually in LIFE group that week! :P

My personal stance on church form letters (or canned mail as my mom calls it) is that it's an effective way to reach several people at once. However, it'd probably be best not to try to masquerade it as a "personal note" and if you're going to masquerade it as a personal note, you should probably sign your name. :D

That's awful! I'd laugh if I got that note, especially if I was actually there that week. I'd shrug it off as one of those things about big churches, they can't be warm and personal with everyone, so they work at being efficient instead.

And hey, I went to a church with about 100 members and didn't show for like 3 months after having gone steadily for two years, and no one even called or sent a form letter, so at least your church knows you exist and care enough to send something! :D

[Sweet Pea]

I have a really weird church situation though. I presume that the card was supposed to be sent by the teacher of the class, but the teacher obviously does not really want to teach the class. He doesn't show up about 75% of the time, and when he does show up, he often appoints another member of the class to teach because he hasn't studied his lesson.

Your class hasn't complain about him and get him removed? That's a poor testimony.

[jenptcfan]

Your class hasn't complain about him and get him removed? That's a poor testimony.

Well, the church staff is aware of the situation, but nothing has been done about it. It's really odd because this is an older guy who is a deacon and is on committees and things like that. He has lots of church responsibilities which he must take pretty seriously or he probably wouldn't be nominated for so many things.

I have a feeling there's more going on than meets the eye (like maybe he feels pressured to continue to teach but doesn't feel called to do so anymore or he's asked the pastors to find a replacement for him, but they haven't been able to find anyone).

There's actually a whole lot more to the story but I don't want to be a fussy gussy. :)

[constance]

UGH. We get phone calls at 8am on SATURDAY from the church we haven't attended for 3 years. Auto-dialer, recording!

[ZiSunka]

UGH. We get phone calls at 8am on SATURDAY from the church we haven't attended for 3 years. Auto-dialer, recording!

You're kidding? :( A church uses auto-dialer for telephone spam? Awful! :sick:

[constance]

Yep. And when we tried to explain it was spam, and they should send emails, they gave us some line of bunk about how all the old people BOUGHT the auto dialer because they didn't like email.

Can you believe it?

[BigNorsk]

Why don't you give the letter to the teacher and say you got his mail by mistake?

Marv

[ChristianMountainGirl06]

Yep. And when we tried to explain it was spam, and they should send emails, they gave us some line of bunk about how all the old people BOUGHT the auto dialer because they didn't like email.

Can you believe it?

:doh: A church I used to go to did those, too, it was pretty irritating. I usually just hung up on it and called the person whose voice was on the recording to see what was going on.

[ZiSunka]

Why don't you give the letter to the teacher and say you got his mail by mistake?

Marv

:D :clap: ^_^

[JPPT1974]

Is there such a thing as church spam??^_^