I send an email to my church family every other week. This is one way I can communicate to them and invite them to communicate back to me. This week I did not have an all-church email scheduled, but I sent one instead. I wanted to be sure we had done everything to be prepared for this Sunday. God may bless us with many guests this week, and my desire is that we will be excellent hosts. This email is one way I'm trying to foster that.
If you haven't prepared your church for Easter guests, there is still lots of time for you to send an email!
Sunday is Easter! This is often the most crowded day of the year in American churches, so I wanted to take a moment and send a few suggestions your way.
This Sunday morning, we have a great celebration planned. I hope you are planning to be a part of it. I want you to know that right at 10:30 we'll be launching into some creative and meaningful pieces of the Easter service. If you aren't there at 10:30, you'll definitely be missing out! This is a great week to get into the worship center on time...
More importantly, we will likely have many guests this Sunday. This is the only week of the year when many people come to church. We want to do everything we can to warmly embrace all our guests and demonstrate the love of Jesus to them! Remember, we are called to serve, not to be served... even on Easter Sunday!
Over the past year, I have been impressed over and over again with the incredibly friendly spirit that exists at The Gathering. I hear from many people who visit how welcomed they felt (some of you who are reading this have experienced that warmth!) Please think about these ideas to help us create a welcoming environment this Sunday:
- Try to arrive early and sit near the front or in the middle of a row. We want to leave plenty of easily accessible seats for any late-coming guests.
- If you see someone who looks lost, ask them if you can help them out.
- During our connection time, meet someone you've never met.
- Don’t race out. Enjoy a conversation or two before you leave.
- Fill out your connection card. If everyone is writing on their card at the same time, we create "positive peer pressure"
Tomorrow is Good Friday, the day we commemorate Jesus' death. We are reminded of the great price He paid so that we could be the recipient of God's rich blessings. But He didn't remain dead! He rose again, and by doing so, He launched a brand new day in human history. I'm looking forward to celebrating our NEW DAY this Sunday! See you then.
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Hello David Rudd. So good to know you through your profile on the blogger. I am also glad to stop by your blog " Sermon Leftovers" and the post on it about the five things you are communicating to your church family to prepare for the Easter Guests. It does make sense to remind the church family of what they need to do in order to let the Guests feel welcome in the church for worship service. I am in the Pastoral ministry for last 35yrs in the city of MUMBAI, INDIA, a city know for her great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the broken hearted. We also encourage young people as well as adults from the West to come to Mumbai on a short / long term missions trip to work with us in the slums of Mumbai amongst poorest of poor to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to give them new hope, future and purpose. We would love to have young people as well as adults from your church to come to MUMBAI on a short / long term missions trip to work with us during their summer/ Christmas vacation. I am sure they will never be the same. God willing I will be coming to States in the month of June/ July and will be so glad to visit you and your church family. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede
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