Invitations draw younger folks to church

Congregations seeking to
reach people not active
in faith groups

 

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
In her six years at First UMC, Sinton, the Rev. Margaret Decker has shifted from the younger group to the older population.
Some might say, at first glance, that the change isn’t unusual. The pastor has celebrated six birthdays. But Decker, 60, says it’s significant.
“Our median age went from 80 to 60,” Decker said. “We have younger people now.”
Efforts like Bring a Friend Sunday, the third of three Southwest Texas Conference outreach campaigns done each year between September and April, have helped, Decker said.
“During the last couple of years, everything has pulled together,” she said. “The transformation process, Open House Month (during September), Bring a Friend—there’s a different attitude around the church.
“Nothing stands out as having worked exclusively, but it was a lot of things coming together.”
Bring a Friend Sunday is the Lenten version of Home for Christmas and is officially slated for March 9, the Sunday before Palm Sunday. But congregations may designate any Sunday as the time for inviting and escorting unchurched people to a special hospitality day of worship and fellowship.
During the outreach event, church members are encouraged to focus on reaching people they know who don’t regularly attend any church.
Decker said her 212-member congregation is planning to save Bring a Friend Sunday for April, when members will celebrate First UMC’s centennial. Corpus Christi District Superintendent Barbara J. Ruth is to preach April 6. Many other guests are being invited.
David Southmayd, worship committee chair at Asbury UMC, Austin, said his church is asking every member to invite a friend to worship March 9. Asbury isn’t planning any special events, he said, but is encouraging members to take guests to lunch and invite them back to future services.
Invitations will introduce new people to the 75-member Asbury congregation, Southmayd said.
“We hope it’ll get more people interested in coming,” he added.
The Rev. Linda Elford, associate pastor of St. John’s UMC, Corpus Christi, said her congregation would be scheduling Bring a Friend Sunday March 16. The 655-member congregation is planning an after-worship Easter egg hunt and meal. Leaders are to pass out invitational flyers during a Bring a Furry or Feathered Friend pet wellness event March 8 at the church.
St. Luke’s UMC, Corpus Christi, is also doing Bring a Friend Sunday March 16. The Rev. Charles Graff, pastor, said that prayer launched the Bring a Friend Sunday project in January. He’s encouraged members to pray now about who they will invite to church.
The Bring a Friend Sunday plan, detailed in a 146-page Igniting Ministry Campaign Workbook for the Southwest Texas Conference, includes an extensive prayer element.
The effort tries to involve every member of the congregation in the evangelistic task. A number of laity-led teams are to handle key campaign tasks: communication, calling, worship planning, children’s activities, youth activities, hospitality, fellowship meal and follow-up.
The Bring a Friend Sunday campaign is designed to:
> Help offer Christ to all by introducing unchurched people to Christ and the community of believers who bear his name.
> Make reaching and receiving new people for Christ an ongoing part of the disciple-making process in every congregation.
Research shows that most people who join a local church already have friends or relatives in the congregation.
Getting individuals to attend worship for the first time is often the most difficult step toward commitment to Jesus Christ, outreach experts say.
The Bring a Friend Sunday campaign offers step-by-step plans for involving church members in helping unchurched people over that attendance obstacle.
Bring a Friend Sunday is one way the Southwest Texas Conference tries to empower ministries in local congregations so they can offer Christ to all.