My neighbor bicycled past me as I walked the two blocks to the church office. I wasn't too surprised when he ignored my greeting. He had never been too cheerful.

Across the street from the high school, he got off his bicycle and began to pick up several pop cans that littered the sidewalk.

How nice, I thought as he put them in the basket hanging from his handlebars. Then he walked the bicycle across the street, put down the kickstand, and threw each of those cans onto the front lawn of the high school with obvious disgust.

Is that how he also feels about our church? I wondered. Had we been a bad neighbor in any way?

Later that month I met with the elders of another church that was searching for a senior pastor. I asked, "If I went to three houses in your neighborhood, knocked on the door, and asked what they think of your church, what do you imagine they would say?"

Puzzled looks crossed their faces. One responded, "What do you mean, 'What do they think?'" Their attitude was one of indifference, ...