Church Growth by Invitation

There is a promise in the Gospel of St. Matthew that applies to you as well as to me. Jesus said, “Whoever receives you receives me, whoever receives me receives him that sent me” (Mt. 10:40). You are an important part of God’s plan to gather his
children together.

Sometimes we make things more difficult by using terms like “Evangelism” and “Church Growth.” These expressions, good in themselves, get worked to death and begin to convey attitudes and methods that seem manipulative or even threatening.

That is certainly not what is on Jesus’s mind when he says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-20). What God wants is for his children to invite home His children who are lost, alone, and need of love. The truth is that we don’t have to go very far to do this. It’s as simple as looking around your immediate environment and asking yourself, “Who do I see that could use a good welcoming hug for our Heavenly Father?” and then taking the risk of inviting them to come to Church with you. True, not everybody you might invite home to our Father’s house will say yes, but there is a good chance that some will indeed gladly respond.

Let me propose to you a new, yet ancient, model for growing the Church. The Church is the family of God, and as a family it grows by adopting new children. The central way that this happens is by invitation. Invite those whom you care for. Don’t just say, “I’ll meet your there,” but bring them to Church with you. If we do our family events, both worship and family celebrations well, they will be encouraged to stay. That leads to the second way that Churches grow, and that is by word of mouth. People are already being drawn to Trinity because our family life here is being restored. As people begin to hear that something good is happening here they will respond.

The third way is by letting it be known out in the broader community that there is new and exciting life at Trinity. Old methods like newspaper ads, broad based mailings, and phone campaigns have had their day. Currently people who are searching for a Church will look for us on the internet. For that reason we are working on our webpage and looking for ways to make it more accessible. Our webpage address is http://www.tecdallas.org/ Send it to your friends with a friendly email invitation. If you have computer and webpage skills give us a hand in expanding this outreach.

None of these things will work without prayer, not just a one-time prayer, but by prayers faithfully repeated. Prayer doesn’t have to be fancy, just heartfelt and to the point. Join me in praying regularly for the grown of our parish family and pray with me,

Heavenly Father, your children, lost and alone, are scattered all over our community. Send forth your Spirit to call them to yourself in our family here at Trinity Episcopal Church; and give us grace both to invite those we care for, and to welcome home those you bring into our family, so that your kingdom may grow in our midst, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Canticle of the Old Man

Psalm 71: 17 – 21 Deus docuisti me

O God, you have taught me since I was young, *
and to this day I tell of your wonderful works.
And now that I am old and gray-headed, O God,
do not forsake me, *
till I make known your strength to this generation
and your power to all who are to come.
Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens; *
you have done great things; who is like you, O God?
You have shown me great troubles and adversities, *
but you will restore my life
and bring me up again from the deep places of the earth.
You strengthen me more and more; *
you enfold and comfort me.

There is popular myth abroad in the Church that says that we need younger people in order to grow the Church. To quote a lovely C. S. Lewis character, “My uncle, Dr. Duncanson, . . . used to say, ‘Show it to me in the word of God.’ And then he’d slap the big Bible on the table.” The word of God does not say we need younger people to grow the Church. What it does say is that we who have years of Christian experience need to step up and give clear witness to what we have experienced and what we know.

God has taught many of us since we were young. And now that we are old and gray-headed we actually have something valuable to say. It is we who can make known God’s strength to this coming generation and His power to all who are to come. The Canticle of the Old Man from Psalm 71 makes our responsibility clear; we have the long length of Christian experience and we know that God has carried us through, and carries us through even today.

Our experience has included great troubles and adversities and time after time God has restored our lives and brought us up from the deep places of the earth. We know the truth the Psalmist testifies to when he cries, “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me” (Ps. 42:7). And we know that time after time we can testify to the truth that we know that our Redeemer liveth! (Job 19:25). We are called to share that long experience of grace with the coming generations. Through joy, through sorrow, through meadows green and rocky valleys God has sustained us. We have every expectation that He will sustain us still.

We know and experience the truth that he strengthens us more and more, that he enfolds and comforts us. There are many who have not yet begun to walk with Christ who need to hear that testimony from us. There are many young in Christ who need to hear that God does carry his people through. We have a testimony to share.

We need to share in words spoken and written, in words gentle and kind, in words bold and forthright, “in season and out of season.” And we need to pray that God Himself will open doors for us to share our faith in words of grace filled the wisdom garnered from long experience.