Sunday, October 2nd, our kickoff Sunday, was a fun day.  It was nice to see a good crowd that day.  People got a taste of the new technology as words of the songs and bible verses were portrayed on the screen.  We added a keyboard and a small worship team led worship with their own mics. The bulletin was streamlined and modernized and people could enjoy a cup of coffee or a bottle of water.  There was a more relaxed feel to the service.  People really seemed to enjoy themselves.

We had been preparing for that Sunday for many months.  Many of you were anxious see what it would be like.  Would it feel comfortable?  Would I like it? The C3 committee had spent months preparing for that day.  But now it is past and where do we go from here?

October 2nd was a fun day, but it was only one day and it was really only the beginning of the change process that has to happen here at Journey Church.  That Sunday we were seeking to create a new atmosphere to our morning service, to make it a little more comfortable and understandable (culturally relevant) to people who might visit the church.  But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that we don’t see many visitors on a Sunday morning. So if we are relying on Sunday morning to be our main point of contact with the community, we will not have much of an impact on people’s lives and on the community at large.

So in many ways, now the real work of C3 (Churches Covenanting for Change) begins.  This is not just work for a small team, but it is a work for the whole community of faith.  And what is that work?  There are three aspects to the work that is before us in the coming year.

  1. The most important work is prayer. Paul uses an agricultural analogy in 1 Corinthians to convey this important truth to us. He talks about how we all have a part to play, but God has the most important part.  Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God causes the growth.”  So the most important thing to do is to pray and ask God to work in our midst.  We need to be PRAYING FOR ONE, praying for individuals within our sphere of contact that God would work in their lives.  Pray for wisdom for the leadership and that God would lead clearly.
  2. Then we need to create new points of entry into the church—places where people can connect beyond Sunday morning. The more connections points we have the greater opportunity we will have to connect people to Jesus.  Alpha or a small group study is an option. Various service projects in the community are another opportunity.  We have to increase our connection points.
  3. Finally, we must learn to become an inviting people. Three key words are “come and see”. When Andrew was introduced to Jesus, he went and found his brother Peter and he invited him to come and see the messiah.

 

October 2nd was a great day, but it was only a beginning.  We can’t stay there or dwell there; we have to keep moving forward pursuing what God has called us to as a church in purpose statement, “to bring people into a personal and growing relationship with Jesus.”