Should we keep inviting people to church? What has our almost maniacal emphasis on church growth and church plants gained us other than a steady decline in membership and worshipers? What if we stopped inviting people to church and just went into the community as a presence? What if we attended 5k's and passed out water to the runners courtesy of our church? Or helped with neighborhood cleanups? No conditions, no sermons, no manufactured events designed to lure people into the pews, just here, have some water on us, need help with painting your community center? I wonder how people would respond?
What if we were a constant presence at community events, we could wear T-shirts with our churches name, but other than that we'd just be there to support things they deem important to their community? Would they begin to view us differently, to accept us as friends without an agenda? There is an old theory that values attraction rather than promotion as a tool to effect change, if we were an attractive part of the community would our message be more attractive?
What we're doing now isn't working too well, maybe we should try just being in the neighborhood rather than lecturing the neighborhood.
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