I heard an interesting statistic this week about the community in which I live. My friend Dave was telling me that in the last month over 1000 new families have moved into our community. Actually it was within a five mile radius of our church. That is a lot of people coming to our area in a short amount of time. I know nothing about any of them. And I do not believe any of them have attended our fellowship in the last month. You might think we would have one family drop in by accident, but that has not been the case.
Dave has been diligently working to organize the names in a systematic way so we can drop by their house and welcome them to the community. Did I say that it was over a 1000 new families and Dave is organizing them so that our fellowship can contact them. You know every church needs a Dave. Dave is the guy that works behind the scenes to keep us on our toes to reach out to our community. He is an incredible asset to a church and is utilizing his gifts for the kingdom. I hope your church has a Dave. But this post is not about Dave, it is about the 1000 families new to our area.
How do we as a church reach out to these new families? We may not know them, but we know that God knows them. So we must some how find a way to extend a gracious invitation to them. The best way is to invite them to attend church. I was reading an interesting statement the other day that said 8 out of 10 unchurched persons said they would come to church if they were invited. WOW is that true? According to scientific research that number is correct. I guess the old statement "if we invite them they will come" has validity.
However, even though the unchurched will attend if invited we as followers of Jesus Christ are not doing a very good job of extending an invitation. According to research, only 21 percent of active churchgoers invite anyone to church in the course of a year. However the statistic becomes even more alarming when we discover that only 2 percent of church members invite an unchurched person to church.
This whole discussion brings me to another friend of mine named Georgia. Georgia blames it on me, but I think it is just who she is a person. Georgia invites everyone to come to church. She was in Curves the other day and invited someone to church. She was getting the oil changed in her car and invited someone to come to church. I get excited when Georgia tells me these stories and she challenges me to do a better job of inviting people to church. Every church needs a Georgia. Does your church have a Georgia?
Here's the scoop: we do not necessarily have to share the gospel with those we invite, the first step is just extend an invitation. Everybody likes invitations. It makes them feel important. It makes them feel special. Now in the process if you get the chance to share the gospel, by all means do so. But the least we can do is invite someone to attend. So what do you think? Should we as a church invite people to attend or should we just wait for them to show up?
Pastor,
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed your blogs - especially the 20 years one - so very true!
I used to attend Lynwood back in the day and while I'm no longer a resident of Illinois, I am glad to see your leadership as Christ focused and reaching out to the community. Lynwood made an impact on my life - without it, I would be unsaved, as would many of my friends. With all the new residents - I couldn't believe the growth the last time I was "home" - Lynwood plays an important role in bringing these families to God.
Something your church may try that one did in our neighborhood (our neighborhood is much like Bolder Hill, in size and notoriety) is to buy 9 volt batteries (in bulk) and put 2 of them in baggies with a flyer and deliver them to homes on door knobs. The 9 volts are for smoke detectors - to remind people to change them! This shows the church cared about families, with a flyer about church services and day care and other opportunities they offered. Perhaps Lynwood could do something like that. It's been too long since I've been there to know what things are like now, but it could draw people in -- I simply came out of curiosity -- I certainly didn't expect it to change my life or anything!!!! But it brought me to Christ and that was one of the most amazing things!
I'll keep LBC in my prayers and that Lynwood would be a light to all those living in darkeness......a beacon that will bring them home to the Father through the treacherous storms of life.
Signed,
The General's Wife
PS. Glad to hear about Dave and Georgia :)
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input. Sounds like a good idea and definitely away to tell people we care about them in tangible ways. I thank God that Lynwood made an impact in your life. I hope you will continue to follow the blog and see how God is moving in His church and our community. God's blessings to you.