So here we are the beginning of Passion Week. I ask the question, what are we doing about it?? This weekend more people that are UnConvinced will attend churches around the globe than any other time of the year. They might go out of obligation or because it is time for family Easter lunch or it is the right thing to do but the fact is, THEY WILL BE THERE in your church. The question is, What are you doing about it??
Do you have any special plans to make the UnConvinced feel welcomed? Have you gone out of your way to train or establish more volunteers that will greet people on the parking lot or outside the front doors? Have you checked the Sight, Sound and Smell of your facility? You know people that are coming Sunday will be checking these things out. When they come on the property and into our facility will they see clutter or even dirt? Will they hear music they recognize or will they hear Sis. Snooty gossiping about someone?? What does your facility smell like?? Is your bathrooms clean and FRESH? What about the kids rooms and nursery?
You might be thinking, Eddie, the only thing i am thinking about is studying my Easter message. You have preached that message over and over for years now, surely you know it. I DO NOT underestimate the importance of being prepared to preach the word, but if the UnConvinced walk into our churches on Sunday and are met by Rude People and no one really cares that they are there and the place looks like you just had a yard sale and somebody just peeeeed all over the floor, then they will be turned off immediately.
Make sure the UnConvinced are greeted with a warm smile and love. Prepare some people to talk to those that no one else wants to talk to because they don't look like, act like and smell like us. And for God's sake, clean up the CRAP around our facilities.
We established a prayer team for this week and are praying that 50 UnConvinced people will make a decision for Christ on Easter Sunday at clc. They are going to show up at your church on Sunday, maybe not for the right reason, but they will be there. The biggest opportunity you will have all year to speak into the lives of more UnConvinced people's lives in one setting is Easter Sunday.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT???
Yes they will. They will show up on Easter Sunday like nobody's business. My question is: What will they see? Will they see American Churchianity or will they see God? If they see God, they might do more than pray the sinner's prayer. They might just stick around and learn more about the Christ life. As Eddie suggests, the unchurched need to see the love of Christ in action and in presence.
ReplyDeleteWea are preparing like mad for our 9th annual Easter Weekend in the park. This year a local AG asked if they could take part with us and we welcomed them in openly. Sat the 11th we will have our annual Easter Egg Hunt w/ 30,000 eggs, 2500 hot dog lunches, free bikes etc. Our mayor, city councila nd chief of police have already rsvp'd. Last year 3600 people came. Sunday we are doing an illustrated message in the park with a combined band, youth hip hop dance team, drama team, kids program and more. This year we have committed to seeing 100+ people make a life changing decision for Christ. We have teams set in place and both church staff's have been meeting weekly for the last 8-10 weeks to ensure a success. Our goal is simple, not to see how many we can get saved but how many disciples we can get out of this. We are preparing for many to come to our church campus in the weeks and months to come and when they do, we will be ready!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the challenge bro!!!
I had a bummer of an Easter Sunday the first year I pastored.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't planned any sort of Sunrise Breakfast or Easter Cantata -- nothing much beyond a typical service with a simple Easter Egg hunt.
That Sunday, on a day I expected a larger-than-normal attendance, we had a significantly smaller crowd.
A number of members either were out of town or went to other churches.
To make matters worse, that was the first Easter I'd ever been away from family. We had our Easter dinner at Bob Evans that afternoon and wallowed in self-pity.
We determined that we were going to do something the next year to get folks to come to our church instead of visiting others.
The second year, we had breakfast before church, and the attendance was up.
My point: Church folks like to have something to look forward to on Easter (and Christmas and New Years and ...). We, as pastors, need to plan and advertise that something. If we don't, our own members may go somewhere else to find that something.
Quite a bit was said in the article and comments about the building and the people.
ReplyDeleteWhat about next week's message?
Seems this Sunday might be a good time to let all those visitors know about the exciting sermon series you'll be starting on April 19.
Hopefully that series will be something that appeals more to unsaved men than unsaved women. If you can get the man of the house saved, you have a really good chance at getting the rest of the house as well. Not so if the woman gets saved first.