PASTORAL CARE

I sat in Lois Tyler's living room, watching her be uncomfortable.

"You have a nice church," she said, "but we just can't go there anymore."

Our church was in the middle of a building project. For eight months, we held worship services in a neighboring church at 2:30 on Sunday afternoons. The Tylers were not pleased.

"My husband cannot worship at that hour, and he will not."

I thought that was the end of it, but it wasn't. The Tylers didn't return to worship at our church, even when we returned to our building. But they did come to many other things, such as a weekly Bible study, monthly seniors' meetings, and many of our special events. The Tylers had become what I call polydomous Christians.

"Polydomous" is an adjective referring to creatures who live in more than one nest. Poly is from the Greek, meaning "much" or "many." Domous is from the Latin, meaning "home" or "domain." People become polydomous for many reasons, some of which are legitimate and healthy. As a pastor ...