A footnote on this old post about Back to Church Sunday:
Idea for next year 'Back to World Sunday', where churches close their services and Christians spend the day hanging out with their non-churchgoing friends.
Someone else has had the same idea: Don't Go To Church Sunday at the moment just seems to be a website with a few ideas. It isn't a massive site, just one page - here's a snippet:
Why?
- Because we should be more interested in being the church rather than going to church.
- Because we should be more concerned about people getting to know Jesus than keeping ‘church’ going the way it always has.
- Because there are more people who have never been to church in Britain than those who have.
the site lists a few ideas and examples from around the country. (Ht Evangelism UK). I don't know if there's any kind of organised campaign connected to it, there aren't any clues on Google, though there are 55 million results for 'don't go to church Sunday'.
Other benefits:
- cuts the carbon footprint of the congregation who would otherwise have driven in (ditto on heating an ancient building - plan DGTCS in mid-January for fuel efficiency).
- the vicar/minister gets a bit of a break. Not that I have a vested interest......
- giving everyone else a break who normally puts out chairs, makes coffee, sets up the building, plays music etc. etc.
Against
- it'll be the one Sunday in the year when several people walk in off the street, only to find the place closed.
- Mrs Miggins will still turn up to make the tea anyway, because that's what she's always done every Sunday since she took the job on . Actually, she could look after the folk who've come in off the street. Sorted.
- Several members will take the chance to try the new house church down the road, as they've spent so much time in church meetings that they don't have any non-Christian friends left to hang out with. They'll like it so much that you never see them again.
As someone committed to Christians having non-Christian friends as a necessary part of their witness to Christ, to churches sacrificing everything for the lost, and to new ways of doing church I have to say that I think the idea of a "Don't go to church Sunday" is a very silly idea indeed!
ReplyDeleteThe two main issues are:
1)If Christians aren't meeting with non-Christian friends in the week effectively, regularly, and naturally then a single sunday to do so will be nothing but contrived and also highly patronising to the poor non-christians who find their sundays suddenly disturbed by their slightly odd christian friends who have turned up on their doorstep with a picnic basket and a worrying smile.
2)God remains Holy and worthy of worship ... and by worship I mean corporate community all out worship, which is different to just living a life of worship out in the world which we should be doing all the time anyway. There should never be a sunday when we don't stop living in the world and come together as a community of faith to worship the Almighty creator.
The answer is not to stop worship in order to evangelise, the answer is to evangelise more wholly and effectively throughout the week in order to gather more to worship in that unique offering of worship which we do on sundays.