Listen carefully, can you still hear the sound of the bell ringing?  Maybe it’s just down the road from your house, or a few miles away, or perhaps it’s only across the street.  At any rate, that small building has been there ever since you can remember, it’s part of the landscape and you have always taken for granted that it would always be there… but will it?  It’s not just in your neighborhood but in other neighborhoods too, especially in rural areas like ours.  You see them in all the small towns and they also dot the countryside with their steeples and bell towers that reach high into the sky.  They all look a little different, some made of brick, stone, or white clapboard.  Perhaps your parents or your grandparents attended church there. Many of them have a cemetery beside them and you may have family or friends buried there.   Perhaps you were one of the children who used to scamper down the path to Sunday School when you heard the church bell ring each Sunday morning, calling us to come together and worship.

Our country possesses a rich heritage and America was founded upon the principle of freedom, one of them being the freedom of religion.  It was this freedom that caused little churches to appear across the countryside and communities of America.  Many of them began as rustic log cabins and lots of times the church
and the school were the same building.

I look around me and so many of the little churches in and around small towns are struggling to survive for many reasons.  Population is down, the trains no longer stop, the stores are gone, and the schools have consolidated.  Yet, I still see little children playing in the streets and around the countryside and I can’t help but see myself in the eyes of those children.  Will there be a church nearby for them to attend?  There is something about having a church in the community.  It is a symbol or reminder of God’s presence in the community.  As we look up and see the steeple, we remember we are not alone.  Just as we hunger physically, we hunger spiritually.  I believe it is because as C.S. Lewis said, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."  There is something within us that hungers for the spiritual because it is a part of who we are and how we were created.  As someone said, there is a God shaped vacuum inside of each of us that longs to be filled.

I urge you to walk outside your house or drive down the road to that little church building near you.   Take a moment and listen.  Perhaps your mind will go back in time and you will hear the majestic strains of a congregation singing, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, or you might see children playing a game in the church yard during summer Bible School.  Listen carefully and you might still hear the squeals of laughter as someone is tagged as the children play “Drop The Handkerchief.”  Can you hear the smallest children singing “Jesus Loves Me This I Know for the Bible tells Me So” and “This Little Light of mine, I’m Gonna Let It Shine?”  Perhaps, like me, you were one of those little children.

I remember the day my puppy died and I walked down the road to the church and went inside to cry because I knew God would understand.  I also remember an aunt who had Alzheimer’s disease.  She disappeared one day and everyone was frantically looking for her only to find her sitting in a pew inside the local church.  We are drawn to God’s house because our hearts are drawn to God.
The story is told of four people in the church whose names were Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
The church needed help meeting its financial obligations and Everybody was asked to participate. Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it. But you know who did it? Nobody. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
When the church grounds needed some work, Somebody was asked to help. But Somebody resented being called upon because Anybody could have done it just as well. After all, it was really Everybody's job. In the end the work was given to Nobody, and Nobody got it done.
The process went on and on. Whatever the task that needed to be done, Nobody could be counted on to do it. Nobody visited the sick. Nobody gave liberally. Nobody shared his faith. In short, nobody was a very faithful member.
Finally the day came when Somebody left the church and took Anybody and Everybody with him. Who was left? Nobody!
Most of the little churches sit quietly on the corner of a street or on a hillside now.  Picturesque perhaps but that is not the purpose of a church.  How long will they remain?  Will they go the way of the schools and the stores that have been torn down?  Will Everybody help or will Nobody be left?  Will the bell still ring?
By Pamela R. Blaine
© October, 2002