COME AS YOU ARE  ON  ‘BACK  TO  CHURCH’  SUNDAY

Five years ago, Anglicans in Manchester took part in the very first ‘Back to Church’ Sunday. The idea proved to be so successful that it has been steadily adopted by other denominations. After last year’s Back to Church Sunday in the Lichfield Diocese, research suggested that about 6,000 extra people attended on that day, with some 15% of them still attending regularly six months later. September 27th has now been officially designated as ‘Back to Church’ Sunday in the Methodist Church’s calendar. So what do we envisage happening on this Sunday  and how might it affect preachers, church councils and congregations?

The basic idea is to so organise the church worship and activities on this Sunday, that invited people who do not usually attend, will have such a positive experience that they will wish to return! This means that worship leaders and preachers will be prayerfully planning to ensure that their language, format, style and message on Sept. 27^th is ‘user-friendly’ and can be easily understood. This may be very important for those who do not have a church background or have not have attended for a long time.

Back to Church Sunday can help to stimulate church councils and management/ worship committees into having a more mission-orientated approach to church business. The Sunday may well raise important questions. What first impressions, for example, is our church likely to give to a visitor in terms of parking facilities, notice boards, welcome at the door, décor, seating, worship experience and refreshments? How can our church better serve the needs of the local community in its worship and through its activities?

Yet perhaps above all else, Sept. 27^th represents a golden opportunity for every member of our congregations to prayerfully consider who, among their family, neighbours and friends, might be invited to accompany them to church on that Sunday. This year’s suggested theme is: ‘Come as you are’. I think that this is an important message to put across because the church has often [wrongly] been perceived as only catering for a particular type of age group, for people with a certain dress code or cultural/ social background and so forth. In reality of course, God’s message of Love (John 3: 16-18), Forgiveness (1 John 1: 9), Acceptance (2 Peter 1: 5-11) and   Hope (Ephesians 1: 18-19) … is available and applicable to ALL people.

In his life and ministry, Jesus was always welcoming people into his presence and accepted them just as they were, trusting that the encounter itself would be positive in providing a significant step forward on their faith journey. Please pray that this may be the experience of many within our Circuit who attend our churches … particularly on ‘Back to Church’ Sunday.

                                               God Bless,

                                     Your Minister and Friend,