Invite Someone to Church This Sunday!

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Rwth and I continue to be so humbled by the warm and gracious welcome we have received from Ocala First! You all have truly made us feel at home and we are especially grateful for how the whole congregation has reached out and embraced Michael. Starting 6th grade in a new school, new city, new house, and new church would be overwhelming to anyone, but he loves his new life! That means the world to us!!

In my sermon on Sunday, I wanted to be faithful to the scripture texts – both Hebrews 13 and Luke 14 – broaden our vision for hospitality and perhaps push us a little bit on the mission of the church and what it means to be member of Ocala First. I really do believe William Temple is correct when he says the church exists for those who are not its members.  But I like to add the word “yet” to his quote, as in “not members yet.” I believe we are always called to join with Jesus is seeking and searching for the least, the last and the lost, for those who need healing, wholeness and a home. 

But where do we begin?  In my sermon, I pulled from Bishop Robert Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, to define hospitality as how we invite, welcome, include, support and nurture new people in our community.  Over the next few years we will have a chance to examine how we practice each of those aspects of hospitality and in the process we will see new growth and life in our congregation.

Why don’t we start with "invite?" We Methodists are pretty good at welcoming folks. But we forget that we can’t welcome those who never come because no one ever invited them (I guess we’re shy or something).  Most church members never invite anyone else to worship.  Let’s change that trend!  

To make things easy, just think about the people that you already know. Who among your circle of friends, neighbors, colleagues and acquaintances would you invite to join you for worship this Sunday?  The article I linked above cites several studies that show unchurched people would consider coming to church if they were invited.  What are we waiting for?

This Sunday we have our monthly Coffee Connect at 10:00 am in the Family Life Center. What a perfect opportunity to invite someone new to church and give us a chance to meet them and warmly welcome them into our fellowship! 

I am confident that a congregation that has welcomed Rwth, Michael and me so extravagantly has the gifts and capacities to extend radical hospitality to the many people throughout Ocala who are not ‘yet’ members of our community of faith.  

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