Monday, May 05, 2008
FRIENDS DAY
About once a year we have a Friends Day at church. Yesterday we had a great Friends Day '08. I never got an official count, but we had over 100 visitors from our community that came to worship with us. I preached on the subject of "What God Thinks of You." The Childress church did a fantastic job inviting their friends and neighbors to come. I had 1000 Friends Day invitation cards printed up and we ran out of those over a week ago. I don't know how many people were actually invited, but it seemed like everyone I invited said they'd already been invited by someone else.Our church has really grown over the past few years and our Friends Day has been one of the great outreach tools that we've used.Today the fun begins as we start the follow up to our Friends Day. We hope to reach those visitors who are looking for a church home. Besides a thank you note in the mail later this week, our visitors will receive a homemade pie or plate of cookies today with an invitation to come back next Sunday. Dozens and dozens of pies will be delivered today alone. Pretty cool, huh? Our church has really grown over the past few years and our Friends Day has been one of the great outreach tools that we've used.
I'd love to know some of the things your church has done to reach out to your community?
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17 Comments:
I think you probably have a lot to do with that growth. A good mister leads by example and creates a culture where people realize it is okay to ask friends to come to church.
Congrats to Childress!
It's great to hear of a church that's growing! Over the years we had many "Friend's Days" but never really saw much growth from it. If the comment above (dcmba) is true, maybe that's why ... it was the preacher all along!
Yay Childress-ites! That sounds awesome.
We have a couple of programs during the year that are our outreach things. We are part of the Interfaith Hospitality Network, which is a group of churches that works together with some social services folks to help homeless families get back on their feet. We also do the Fall Festival, which is a free Halloween thing that gets tons of people in the door every year.
I have to say, though, that the most amazing outreach that I have seen happen has nothing to do with a program or anything like that.
It's our teenagers. They are amazing. They do what we're all supposed to do, and what (at least speaking for myself) we don't do often enough. They just invite their friends to come. And they come.
We have gone from having 10 or 15 kids in youth group on a regular basis to having 45 or 50 come to class most Wednesday nights, and it's for no other reason than the fact that we have really, really good kids. Most of our newer kids are coming without their parents and have little to no experience with being part of a church family. We make coffee and food on Wednesday nights, so it's an easy environment for new people to come in to. Kyle and I joke that they come for the caffeine...but they STAY for worship. We're working on getting them deeper, but for so many of these kids 20 minutes of singing and hearing something from the Bible are more than they have experienced in YEARS.
I am so, so very proud of our teens. I will step off my soapbox now, but it's one I find myself popping up on every now and then when I hear people bemoaning the state of young people today. :) I may be a SMIDGE protective of "my kids."
We do this every year and it is always one of the most encouraging days for the congregation and for the community.
dcmba & Greg - I think it's a combined effort by everyone and a willingness to allow God to work.
Brie - Isn't it amazing how teens often lead the way. We call them the church of the future, when they are really the church of today leading the way.
Awesome idea! We have done a Friend's Day in the past. Vacation Bible School has been good.
Thank you Trey! God bless!
Friends Day... a great idea. It gives those who may be a little shy or reluctant to invite a friend or neighbor ( maybe for the thousandth time) to come hear Gods word and have fellowship.
Personally I think visitation is a great tool to get folks into church. Way to many of us only see the same old faces everyday.
Great idea and I love the follow-up which is very critical in anything. You guys are awesome and a great inspiration.
and, BTW, I was visiting too and I will take a cherry. (I was the one sleeping in the back)
God Bless and keep it up!
I think this is a great opportunity to make people feel welcome and come see what y'all are all about...I personally appreciate the invite....it really meant alot....
Keep up the good work...you and your whole church community is doing great things...
My kids still talk about your Vacation Bible School....they talk about it every time we drive by....thank you from the bottom of our hearts...and thanks for the nice comments....steph
Over 100 visitors?!? Wow. Friends Day sounds pretty awesome!
I love the heart of your church. Sounds like you have it all right!
I'm glad your church is growing. Wish ours was. God bless you!
We have several programs in place at our congregation to minister to our community. We have Easter egg hunts, halloween activities, also we hold weekly MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) and Teen MOPS meetings. Another thing that we do is S.O.S. projects which are spirit of service projects so we get out into the community a lot. Glad your friends day went well, the pie thing is an awesome idea and I don't even like pie!!!
Haley, I'm glad you defined MOPS. I was afraid it was Mad Over-zealous Preaching School. (!)
Trey, I loved hearing about the Friends Day. We had those with really positive results at a congregation or two where I once was the preacher. When good planning and hard work go into it, a Friends Day often goes way beyond anyone's expectations. That's great.
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I was one of your guests and loved every minute of it! Your sermon was awesome, the people were sweet and I noticed my delicious pie had been delivered last night while I was in Canyon.
I would love to visit your church once a month!
Thank you for the inspiration, kindness and hospitality!!
One of the most unusual but effective outreach programs I have been involved in at church was in a small town in TN. The church had an arrangement with 2 of the local funeral homes. Whenever there was a funeral we would get a call and during the visitation the day before the funeral we would go to the funeral home and wash the cars of the immediate family members. This was a small task on our part but a huge impact on those families and the friends that visited during a time of grief. We had a team for each day of the week so whatever day a visitation was on that team went and took care of the cars. It was great fellowship for the members and a wonderful outreach to the community. We left a small business card in each car washed that said, "A small act of kindness for you during your time of grief from the Second Street Church of Christ."
I loved this idea and being part of the Thursday night team.
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