My church has a great dilemma.

You've probably read about this, but I really need your imput on this matter.

Investigations have revealed that our church in Chatham, Ontario is home to a colony of Little Brown Bats.

There could be up to a couple hundred using our church for Winter hibernation.

We can't humanely get "rid of" them until the spring. Those who are disturbed from their hibernation will die from lack of bugs.

We've had bats sitting in the sanctuary on Sabbath morning, bats crawling on the stairs, bats dead outside the back door, bats spreading droppings in the attic, church entrances and even in the baptismal tank.

The warming and cooling weather has obviously confused some of them into thinking it's spring and, one by one, they're flying out and dying. It's not like we can adopt a stray animal and lovingly nurse it--there's a whole society in our church!

I took 2 dead ones home with me yesterday to show my kids. They're beautify furry creatures.

There are some in the church who want to kill 'em all right now.

My research says that there is no way that I would allow it. Bats highly intelligent animals. They are protected by the province, they can live up to 30 years. They're not just flying mice.

The way things stand, some human beings are not willing to share our space with bats. Our evangelistic outreach--even common church activities may have to be put on hold. We may even be dealing with a health problem because of the bacteria in the bat droppings and the bugs the bats bring into the church (bedbugs and batbugs) that can also transfer to human hosts--not to mention rabies!

On the other hand, I don't want to do anything illegal or immoral in my church. Slaughtering our hundred or so animal tennants to me would be on the same level as...well, I don't want to conjure up memories of any beloved pets--it's plain cruel!

What would you do?

As the popular bumper-sticker goes, "What would Jesus do?"

Any ideas?

By the way, thank you for your prayers--the reference to Noah's Ark was well appreciated!

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew

Pastor Andrew,

Sometimes a little education can go a long way. I don't know about the library system in Canada, but in the US most of our libraries offer videos. Many of them are nature subjects. I have seen a couple of programs on TV about bats. Perhaps if you could find a good video that tells about bats in a positive manner, you could arrange a social and show the video.

You might also find a local expert who is willing to come to your church and discuss the problem, the solution, and how to handle the situation in a practical manner until the bats can be removed in the spring.

Unfortunately, a lot of the fear of bats goes back to Brahm Stoker's novel and has been further fed by novels of Anne Rice. They have turned bats into something fearsome, when inreality they are mammals who happen to fly. If the bat population disappeared, most of our food crops would be destroyed by the pests who weren't being eaten by the bats.

A little education might go a long way in your situation. Now if you could get an expert who could get one of your resident bats and use it to demonstrate to your congregation, hmmmmm......

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Even so come, Lord Jesus
Linda

Hi, Pastor Andrew!

I am not a resident bat expert, just a biologist and I used to think of bats in a horrid way aso until I read and watch videos about them. I can't speak for anybody other than myself, but my reaction to bats was always "ahhh! Get the broom! Don't let them get in your hair" when ever we had them in our home. People really do have this dreaded view that the bat is out to get them. For me it was the only reaction I had ever seen to bats. What was I to know?

Having grown-up a bit and studied biology, I realize that the screams were all for the wrong reasons... ignorance and conditioning. Besides the fact that they may carry bugs, which may concern us, they usually are no bother.

I would go for an expert opinion on how to remove them as well as educating the congregation on the bats themselves.

Lorelei

Hi Andrew, just wondering if there is an update on the Bat situation?
Our church didn't have bats, we had swallows come in through a broken window, nesting in the tower.We had to wait till the babies could fly before we could fix the broken window.
I can understand the mess, the swallows were bad enough. We coped with that by putting down covers, but 100 bats is a completely story.
Destroying God's creatures because they are in the way is not on. There must be a proper way.

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Be Still My Soul
Zita

I guess this bat thing is running on two threads. Here I'll discuss the philosophical implications of my dilema and on the "Bat Update" thread I'll give an account of current trends.

Anyway, today I used a "Find the Bat" quiz on the video screen. A young adult was the first to put up her hand. I hid it in a slide just above an Ancient Egyptian tomb.

My children saw it too--and they got activity books for their efforts. (There were no other children in church this morning). The young adult also asked for an activity book. I gave it to her.

An older lady spotted the bat and asked for my "10 minutes of undivided attention from an Adventist pastor" reward. Two of those minutes are up already...

Some ladies say they don't want to be "around" in April when the 102 little bats wake up; but I eased their minds with the fact that the dear little creatures have a great system of communication. When one bat finds its way out, it calls to the other and tells them the way.

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew

I sure wish I could be there to see it! That would be so awesome!

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

Maybe we should mail people free "tickets" for our opening night...

I can see it now:

Don't miss our opening night--Friday, April ** At Dusk--Topic: Revelation 18 "Come out of Her..."

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Don't let yesterday's mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow's fears spoil your day.

Pastor Andrew

Pastor Andrew,

ROFL

Pastor Andrew,

You are batting a thousand.

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In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl