Conduct a Guest Service
Theme of the Week: Is Your Church User-Friendly?
Thursday, July 2, 2009
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Key Bible Verse: If unbelievers … come into your church meeting … they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, "God is truly here among you" (1 Corinthians 14:23, 25). Bonus Reading: Colossians 3:16-17
Quite a few English-speaking churches outside North America hold "guest services." The congregation is encouraged to invite friends and neighbors they've been talking to about the Lord. The service is planned to cut down pressure on guests and tension by explaining everything.
Before the first song, for example, say: "Christians have a lot to sing about. We join Christians from across the centuries in singing things sung 1,600 years ago, 200 years ago, and 10 weeks ago. Our first song was written by the ex-slave trader John Newton. When the music starts, you'll find the words on the overhead screen. We'll stand to sing them together."
Introduce prayer like this: "God is a talking God, and likes to hear us talk to him. We call talking to him prayer. In our church we find it helpful to bow our heads in reverent adoration and close our eyes to shut out distractions. This may seem strange to you. But listen as we address our most revered and holy God. Let's pray." Then you fill your prayer with gravitas, joy, and wonder. And even if people haven't understood it all, they'll go out convinced that "God is truly here among you."
—D.A. Carson in The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World
My Response: To make an initial visit to my church less intimidating, we could …
Thought to Apply: The church exists for those outside it. —William Temple (English archbishop)
Adapted from The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World (Crossway, 2007) by permission.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Keep us, Lord, from erecting artificial barriers to joining your family.
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