Millions
Enjoy Their First Christmas; Everyone Needs A Christmas Eve!
This Christmas we will be joined
in singing praises to Jesus by thousands and tens of thousands and even
millions of brand new believers in Christ who will celebrate their very first
Christmas. Will we have room? Sure we will, because the Church of Jesus
always has room. Most of the new
believers in the world are in Africa and pockets of Asia, like Korea.
Sadly, while many of our own
Christmas traditions and artwork come from Europe, there is very little
evangelistic work in the churches of Europe.
Great cathedrals, Lutheran and otherwise, that once were filled with the
songs we love and the voices of thousands sit nearly empty week after week.
It's not quite so bad in
America, but many see the slow decline of the churched population in the US as
a sign that we're becoming more and more like Europe and less and less like
Africa. Most of the traditional
denominations in America are seeing declines in membership. Our church body certainly is.
And yet, like a small lump of
yeast in a big batch of dough, there is an active work of the Holy Spirit among
us in this country and in the Missouri Synod.
Some churches are showing dramatic growth. The crowds at Christmas will be up this year,
maybe not in the whole church, but in many of our churches.
Which ones? Well, if you go to www.lcms.org and look up
the "Igniting Congregations" report, you'll find that they are all
over the place. In big cities and in
small, rural communities, churches are growing.
A small minority of our more than 6,000 congregations are growing
rapidly. God does that. But we see some common factors. Most growth in churches in America comes in
new missions. That's a fact.
But a tiny minority of long
established congregations (that means older than 25 years!) are also
growing. You'll notice two things about
most of them. First, the average age of
their members is usually quite a bit lower than our typical congregation. Second, they grow because they have many guests
in worship. And they have those guests
because the members invite them.
At Mount Calvary, I notice that
our average age is creeping down year by year as younger families are joining
us. I'm sometimes accused of a
conspiracy to turn the church over to the young people. If the alternative is to close the church in
a few years, then yes, I conspire.
However, I like to think of it as following the long tradition at Mount
Calvary of young leadership. When I
study our past, I notice that congregational church councils, building
committees, finance and elder boards were comprised of some real youngsters
back in the early days!
So it seems simple to me that
the key to our growth is nothing different than increasing our number of first
time guests in worship. Usually, only
between 10-30% of first time guests eventually become church members. Many people visit a number of churches before
finding the right one. Especially
hospitable churches retain a higher percentage of guests, but even the most
unfriendly churches welcome about 10% of their guests as members.
Six out of ten people without a
church home indicate that they would attend if invited. At least that's what they say. But we'll never know if it's true unless we
offer the invitation. Half of the
population of St. Louis county has no church home. That means there are thousands in our
neighborhoods who would accept and invitation.
And we also know that the most likely time of year for someone to accept
an invitation to worship is Christmas, and specifically, Christmas Eve.
This week is the ideal time for
each of us to make contact with the neighbor, the co-worker, the friend or the
relative who has no plans for Christmas Eve worship and invite them to join
us. We need to plant the seeds now. I'll offer some ideas in a moment.
But first, we might have to make
a change in our own plans.
Few of our own members worship
at Mount Calvary on Christmas Eve. Many
young people travel across town or across country to be with family. Some worship with other churches. Some reserve the night for family activities
outside of church.
I'm inviting you to consider
building your Christmas Eve plans around inviting a friend to join you at your
church.
It may mean asking your family
to be flexible. It might mean setting a
new tradition. It could be the greatest
thing that ever happened to someone you care about who finds Jesus and his love
for the first time, or who takes the first step in getting reconnected with the
body of Christ in a local congregation.
Now, here are some simple steps
for inviting a friend.
First, start the
conversation. Pastor Jeff from St. Louis
Family Church is all over the television these days with his very simple
invitations to their church. I know
Pastor Jeff a little bit. He knows that
no one, or practically no one, will attend because they saw a TV
commercial. What he's doing on TV is
helping his members. They ask their
friends, "Have you seen my pastor on TV?"
I also know that Pastor Jeff
would be extremely pleased if you asked your friends, "Have you seen that
pastor on TV?" and offered an invitation to your own church. (Please explain that your pastor
doesn't have the same great hair as Pastor Jeff, but that he really loves
Jesus!)
My point is that right now and for the next few weeks
people are thinking about Christmas, and Jesus and church. Send a card.
Give a fruitcake. Do something
Christmas for someone, and tell them about worship on Christmas Eve.
Second, remember that Andrew
didn't give his brother Peter a long, theological discourse about the Savior,
he just invited him to come and meet Jesus.
In the great majority of cases, all you need to do is invite someone to
Christmas Eve services. Tell them we
just sing the beautiful music and hear the story of Jesus. People know what Christmas Eve is about.
But third, it might help to
de-mystify our church. People might be
afraid of strange customs. Remind them
they can remain very anonymous. We don't
make guests stand. We don't point. Remind them of our totally optional offering
policy. Tell them there will be no altar
call, just a few friendly people who might say "hello." Suggest that if Christmas Eve doesn't work
out, anytime is a good time for a visit.
And finally, use me. Let me know how I can help. If a personal visit is called for, let's set
something up together. If it helps to
tell your friend that I'm making you invite someone, that's fine. If you'd like some advice about a special
circumstance, give me a call right away.
If you know someone who is sick or having a family crisis or in the
hospital or in jail and think they'd like a pastoral visit, find out and let me
know.
What better gift could we give
than the gift of Jesus this Christmas.
Let me know how I can help.
And I'll see you in church this
Christmas season.