Argh.

[rivka]

I just made my calls for the church survey and canvass. Three messages on answering machines and a very stressful conversation with an acquaintance of mine.

She's a new mother who just moved house and combined households with her partner and hasn't had the time to come to church for a couple months now. She didn't want to meet in person - not at her house, not in a public place. She didn't have time to talk on the phone now, and she didn't want to set up a time for me to call her back when she might have time to talk because she didn't know when that might be. She wanted to get me off the phone as soon as possible. She apologized for it, but didn't particularly try to hide it. Her bottom line: she loves the church, but she just can't do anything about it right now.

All of this was perfectly her right, of course, and very reasonable considering the state of her life right now. I don't blame her a bit. It is a horrible imposition to push into people's busy lives like this. And no matter what I say about wanting people's input about the future of the church, I can't fool them into thinking that it's not - at heart - about asking them for money.

I don't know how I'm going to do this with three more people.

Comments

[redbird]

Whose idea was it for you--or anyone at the church--to put a new mother who's just moved in with her partner and hasn't had time to come to church in a couple of months on the list at all? What she needs is someone from the church to call and offer her babysitting or a casserole.

[curiousangel.livejournal.com]

We put her on the list because we're contacting every member of the church, and we're trying to get their opinions, too. I specifically got her assigned to rivka because the new mother in question is a personal friend of ours, and we've already offered babysitting. Repeatedly... after all, it's an adorable baby, and we need the practice. :)