Campaign gears up to get people back into church pews

Originally posted at: http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2009/08/campaign-gears-up-to-get-people-back-into-church-pews/

Campaign gears up to get people back into church pews Posted: 03 Aug 2009 12:07 PM PDT As children across the country head back to school, San Diego-based Outreach Inc. and churches across the nation are gearing up for the “Back to Church Sunday” campaign. The campaign, which will kick off Sept. 13, aims to reach the un-churched, those who have never attended church, and the de-churched, people who used to go to church but no longer attend. LifeWay Research, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, found in a recent survey that 82 percent of un-churched people would visit a church, if a friend or family member invited them. President of LifeWay Research, Thom Rainer, said few active church members invite their friends and neighbors to church. "Only two percent of church members invite an un-churched person to church," he said. Since many of the de-churched stop attending church because of changes in life circumstances or habit, Mark Batterson of the National Community Church in Washington, D.C. said that the de-churched are in the same boat as the un-churched as far as invitations go. "Many de-churched people are a simple re-invitation away," said Batterson. To help those who will join the quest to get the un-churched and de-churched back into the pews, Outreach Inc. has created a campaign planning guide and a social networking page on Facebook. The planning guide offers advice on everything from sermon planning to instructions for greeters. "When people come to church for the first time, or come back after a long absence, they notice everything," said Nelson Searcy, lead pastor of The Journey in New York City. "In fact, most of them form innate judgments about the environment within seven seconds of walking through the door." In addition, the organization has created a "Rethink Church" booklet, which addresses the 10 top reasons people leave the church, along with videos, articles and other resources.   For more information: www.backtochurch.com

You are subscribed to email updates from The Underground To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Posted via email from The Underground-- Not Your Average Christian Mag