September 2010
Dear Friends,
September is a bit of a "back to" month. Back you come from the delights of Grimview Holiday Flatlets. Perhaps it's that so-called Christian work ethic thing that makes people say things like, "I expect you're all refreshed and ready to go now". That, of course, is to underestimate the exhaustion factor of a fortnight at Grimview. And when I was a child I used to loathe those posters that went up in the shops almost before the school holidays had begun, never mind come to an end. "Back to School". Displays of school uniform and those awful mathematics sets you used to get with a set square and protractor and little set of compasses in it.
So maybe the title "Back to Church Sunday" wasn't such a good idea after all. Maybe something like "Welcome to Church Sunday" would be more appealing. I would be very happy to go with that. Because that is really what Back to Church Sunday is about. And it happens, in this most "back to" of months, on Sunday 26th September.
Welcome back. Or maybe, welcome for the first time. But welcome is the point. Lots of people will have been worshippers at Holy Trinity in the past, either as regulars or from time to time, maybe just at weddings and christenings and so on. Maybe they would quite like to renew their acquaintance with the place, and more importantly the Christ who meets them in worship. But it can be difficult to come back.
Maybe people feel a bit guilty. Perhaps they ran clubs or were on the PCC or all sorts of things and stopped doing it. Maybe people feel that others wouldn't know them now and wouldn't be welcoming. Maybe the idea of entering a strange building with lots (or fairly lots) of people they don't know is daunting and off-putting. There are all sorts of reasons why people stop coming, some more serious of course than others. But Back to Church Sunday is a time for those who do go to show that we are actually happy to see others and genuinely want to welcome them in.
So what do we do for "Back to Church Sunday"? First, we make a special effort on that day to look out for and make welcome any unfamiliar faces. Sometimes Brits are just too polite, too unwilling to impose; so they don't make that little effort to say "hello" and make sure visitors feel at home in church. So the first thing is to make sure that a warm and not overpowering welcome is there for people on the day.
Next, and this is really the basis of the day, each member of the congregation is asked to invite a friend or neighbour to the 9.30 service on 26th. There is a special invitation card for that. Again, Brits, and maybe especially C of E Brits, get a bit nervous about that. But when you think about it, we really shouldn't feel that way. If church is important to us, if we value it, indeed if it is one of the most meaningful things in our lives, we should want to invite others to find that out for themselves.
People who are into church growth and what encourages it will tell you that personal invitation, personal recommendation, is one of the most important reasons for new people trying church out. It is even more effective when friends go with them or meet them in church and sit with them. So the visitors don't feel like lemons and aren't left wondering when to sit or stand or whatever. We like people to experience the hospitality of our home. And that should be true of our spiritual home as well.
We shall be letting people know locally about Back to Church Sunday. But by far the most effective way is for people to do those personal invitations. So please do that if you possibly can. The cards will be available in church from the first Sunday in September, and we shall be introducing Back to Church Sunday at our services on that day, 5th September.
So we at Holy Trinity want to extend a warm and genuine welcome to people to join us on 26th September. Those who do will be given a card with a lovely new picture on it by the artist Nigel Done. Based on the episode in John 1:39 it is a joyful celebration of "A New Day". Our prayer would be that Back to Church Sunday, "Welcome to Church Sunday", might be just that for people. The start of a whole new joyful journey with all who are travelling with Jesus in the life of his Church. If you would like to know more about the day, just speak to me. And if you can join in, that would be great. It might really be the start of something good!
With best wishes,
Michael Ballard.