March 29Message From Your Pastors

But before you congratulate my bravery,  they were all people that are connected in some way to our church already.  Some of them come occasionally.  Some of them used to come.  Some of them know people at the church.  One of them had reached out on Facebook.On Maundy Thursday,  we celebrate the last supper,  but also the new command that Jesus gave (Maundy comes from “mandate” or command).  The so-called new command was “Love One Another”  that is to say, your fellow disciples, followers of Christ.

Being invitational does include people that have never been reached by the gospel, but it also includes the “underchurched”.  Disciples that have slid away, or gotten disconnected, or busy with life.  This is one way that we “love another” is by reaching out to say that we love you and miss you,  and want you at our gatherings.

You are also reaching out on behalf of God’s church.  Maybe they were never connected to our church,  but God’s church loves them and misses them.  If you know people who were engaged in church at some point, but now are “underchurched”,  let them know that God’s church misses them,  and that they are invited to our local outpost of God’s church.

I’d like to encourage you to take time this holy week,  and ask,  who do I know that feels like they have been disconnected from church,  whether from our church or church in general.   It might even be for good reasons and they might not respond by coming back — that’s not necessarily the point.  The point is that when we love someone,  we let them know we miss them.  Who can you love by reaching out this week?   Let’s start this holy habit of letting people know that we miss them at church.

Happy Holy Week,
Pastor Nick