Come and See

 This morning we are going to discuss evangelism, the art inviting people to our church. First, we have Evangelism 101: Tell people you are a Christian, and don't be a _____! Any thoughts?...  A jerk. There is the story about a police officer who pulled over a minivan and approached with their gun pulled and asked them to step out of the car. After confirming that the driver was the owner and the car was not stolen, the driver asked why the police officer thought it was stolen? "Because I saw you honked your horn when people in front weren't going fast enough, you rolled down the window and yelled at people, and even flipped others off, when I saw the Christian bumper sticker, I thought a Christian doesn't act like that." 

Second, the purpose of evangelism isn't to increase our giving. Yes, our church could use a little more income and a few more pledgers, but that is not the reason we should be inviting others to join our church and it certainly can't be a selling point when asking people to come and check out our church. When, in our Gospel story this morning, Andrew invites his brother Simon to come and check out Jesus, it wasn't because Jesus needed the money, or Andrew didn't want to do all the work, it was because Andrew found something special, the Messiah, the Christ, and wanted Simon to experience it. So, I hope that you are here because of something more out of habit or obligation and found something special, meaningful in this church and community and want others to experience it themselves. 

Third, the best technic of evangelism is personal relationship. In a Pew Study, 6 out of 10 people said if invited by a neighbor and a friend, they would go to their church. In other studies, 1 of out 10 said they joined the church because of the pastor. Any marketing that we do or may do in the future, only softens the ground so that when you ask, they may have already heard something good about our church. It was John the Baptist's calling out Jesus that peaked the disciples interest, but it was the personal invitation that really sealed the deal. 

Fourth, the reality of evangelism is that on average, only about 1 in 10 visitors join the church, if the church is really good, then it doubles to about 2 in 10. So if every one here today invited someone in the next month, we may get 1 or 2 or 3 new persons or families. There are lots of variables that go into it, but to suffice to say, inviting one friend or neighbor to come and see may not produce a lot of results. 

Lastly, I do not believe that if we don't get a lot more members soon, this church will crumble or is in danger of closing. Just like in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we have every gift we need and are blessed in many ways beyond measure. In Stacy Drouliards book, "My Seven Aunts" she talks about this church in the 1970's and it welcoming and open ministry. That has not changed. I thank God for this church and there are many here and throughout our community who do as well. 

In our Gospel story of John, John the Baptist calls out that Jesus is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world and this was shown to him by a dove descending on him. This makes people curious and tells people what Jesus is working on to accomplish. We will soon have a new mission statement and we should have that out there, whether in the community, on social media, and any publications. That will draw some people to us and we hope that they find us working on what we are proclaiming. John the Baptist goes on to say he will testify about what he heard, saw, and experienced, so to we have to expand the mission statement to tell our story, whether the church's story or family's story or a personal story of the experiencing the Spirit or Jesus or healing or love.

Then when John the Baptist's disciples approach Jesus, Jesus doesn't give them a brochure or a lesson in theology, he invites them to spend time with himself and after spending a day together, Andrew finds his brother Simon to say, "We have found him, the Messiah." Again, brochures and bullet points of who we are as a church and how we fit into Christianity and the wider church help, but it is the spending time and discussing probably a wide range of topics that help the relationship become solid. 

I really believe that this church has much to offer a person, a retired couple, and even a family. But we aren't going to pounce on the first family with younger children and proclaim that upon this family, we will rebuild our Sunday School like Jesus did with Simon, renaming him Peter, the Rock. I hope that we will rebuild it and have the noise of a crying baby or or fussy little child or the eye-roll of a teenager more regularly than we do now. But we are not incomplete without then. Again, we have everything we need now. We can and should invite others to come and see what we are about, where we are going, and experience the love of God. Amen? Amen.