This Sunday we are having an old style "Friends Day," where we are encouraging members to invite their friends to our worship service. It simply gives members an excuse to invite their friends. It will be good to see what kind of response we get from this.
Some questions arise, such as, Are people motivated to invite yet? (This heart passion has to be developed, and people must have confidence in the experience that their friends will receive.) Have we done enough relationship building for this? (Still need a ton more of this) Are the people in the community receptive to coming? (We have to serve them and get to know them, which again takes time.) We are of course hoping that no matter where we are in these processes--and we have a long ways to go--that God will bless this and bring some seekers our way. If one seeker comes, it will definitely be worth the time, prayer, and effort.
Now, some of my missional friends would disapprove of this supposed "attractional" method. But as has been discussed recently--including endorsements from missional thinkers like Alan Hirsch--the opposite of missional is extractional, not attractional. And that objection misunderstands a method for the theological principle of being sent and always seeking to be on mission, no matter where we are.
If we were to not go out and engage our community, well, then we would cease to be on mission. But we are seeking to do that, and the worship experience is pretty essential at some point in most people's conversion in North America. It should not substitute for community involvement and Bible study (most people make their decisions for Christ through personal study today), but it plays a role in conversion. After all, people must experience community and worship to know what they are signing up for! Conversion is not merely individual and about our individual salvation--that is an American concept. Salvation is also communal.
Do you think that a Friends Day is "missional?" What role do you think that the worship experience plays in conversion? What has been your experience for these types of days?
Comment
Is Friend's Day Missional? That is an interesting question. Another way to ask the question is whether "attractional" approaches are missional. At first, one would not think it is missional due to all the reasons James gave in introducing this question. Practical missional concepts seem to me to depend on what engages the unchurched in such a way they will listen to the Story of Redemption. For most of the unchurched today having a Freind's Day would do little to provide that avenue---unless the relationship with the friend has developed to a point where interest in "what is done" at a worship service is expressed. For my generation growing up in the 50's a "Friend's Day, two week long "Gospel Meeting", or City Wide Campaign would have engaged many of our friends and neighbors. But, our culture has changed dramatically. It is not likely a Friend's Day will provide either interest or engagement unless interest has been expressed and the ground prepared ahead of time. But, neither would a Gospel Meeting be a inviting medium for the unchurched today ( in the U.S. culture).
Hey John! We had lunch yesterday with Anna-Marie Cunningham/Head and Doug yesterday and we talked about you. Hope that you are doing well. Thanks for the thoughts.
It may be that having non-Christians in the assembly in the first century was indeed unusual. That would not be surprising for a "non-churched," non-Christian culture, of course. The question is, was that merely do to the culture or is that the intent (to have few seekers/non-Christians). I would say that Paul certainly wants the Christians to be sensitive to the non-Christians who may come, so it is a bit of a moot point anyway.
But I would contend that being missional is not merely about going to a location, though it does often entail that. It is a permanent posture of seeking to further God's redemption to a lost and broken world. We do not ever cast that aside. We should always seek to reach whoever God brings our way. And if our world today is in the habit of coming to a worship service--and it helps to convert them--why would we not want to see that happen?
That objection reminds of what was often done historically in our fellowship on Christmas. Every other Sunday of the year we try to get people to think about Christ, but on that day, some said that we should not preach about Christ or his birth. What? In the same way, we are always seeking to reach people for Christ, but when they show interest in worship, we cease to be interested? To me, we are always on mission and do not "turn it off on Sunday."
I''m only a seed planter but if I don't walk across the street from the church building then what am I. I meet new people every day and have the privilege to study God's word with some who are seeking Jesus. You will not find these men at a worship service as they are in jail.
James, I don't see friend days as as particularly missional. After all, the primary purpose of the assembly is to meet the needs of the saved (1 Corinthians 14; Hebrews 10). Paul seems to view non-Christians in an assembly as out of the ordinary. But, asking a friend to attend an assembly is a fairly low risk proposition to help people get their feet wet in being missional. So, all in all, probably not a bad thing to offer from time to time.
Thanks, Damien. Good thoughts, I think, and we are on a similar page. The more unchurched a community is--or the less that a church has done in serving that community and blessing people in their daily lives--the less effective these days are. But if you are serving people and studying with them, you do want to at some point invite them to a worship service. And it is one of the easier things for many people to do. At the very least it puts people on people's hearts.
As you say, people are not converted merely from these days, but they can definitely play a part in people's conversion--particularly if people are already looking for a church or if they have negative stereotypes to overcome about Christian and churches. Thanks for the thoughts!
I believe anything we can do to try to lead people to Christ is better than nothing and this supplies an opportunity to reach people that otherwise we might not have reached for one reason or another. However, it really is not the way they did evangelism in the 1st century and I think with good reason. The church was primarily a time for the family to gather and worship - the lost were taught Jesus and then brought into the assembly after being saved. And simply bringing people to a worship gathering is not as effective at leading people to Christ as one-on-one conversation about Sin, Jesus, and how one can be saved. Overall I do not find FD's all that effective, but like I said it is better than doing nothing... and added onto other works it does provide one more opportunity. And perhaps the biggest keys to making one of these days work is the church putting their best foot forward in friendliness and something being done to capitalize on the people who visited (i.e. set up a Bible study/ conversation/ something to go beyond the meeting place). I doubt anyone has ever been converted solely from coming to a FD, but if you take that as a starting point fruit can be had from it.
12 members
19 members
20 members
35 members
57 members
57 members
46 members
93 members
48 members
29 members
© 2024 Created by James Nored.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Missional Outreach Network for the Missional Church to add comments!
Join Missional Outreach Network for the Missional Church