As a church we're not flush with cash so any promotion of events we do tends to be low key, a few posters and some invitations for our folks to give to friends, neighbours and family. Occasionally we'll leaflet drop the area we consider our parish, but that rarely seems to get results. So much so that we didn't even do it for our Easter Service this year.
Yet for our Easter service we had over 60 visitors from the community we serve. Visitors outnumbered regular church family which was a real answer to prayer. Sunday School jumped from about 30 to 60+ and lots of families came to church for the first time and others returned having been at Christmas.
Why? God works, first and foremost it was obviously God at work bringing people in. But how did God work? God worked through his people committed to, embedded in and caring for their community inviting people from that community to come to church. The community see that the church is for them, both in terms of loving them well and welcoming them if they come along. That melts away some of the barriers in terms of getting through the door. The community have also experienced that the church loves their families, of all ages.
It wasn't a high glamour event, we don't really do those. It was a simple Easter service followed by an Easter Egg hunt, followed by a BBQ. Some families couldn't stay for the egg hunt and BBQ but came for the service anyway - which was a huge encouragement. Others came and stayed for all of it.
Our prayer is that God is just beginning his work in the hearts and minds of these people. But the lesson we've learnt is simple and in many ways not unexpected. God works through his people building relationships, caring for, and inviting others to come and see his goodness which they've glimpsed in his people. A people not perfect but trying to relate to one another by grace as they live assured of God's love in Christ, praying for him to bring others to know that love and grace.
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