Dear Church,
Of late, I have been thinking about how can see more people come to encounter our risen Lord on Sundays. I noticed at our grand opening of the new building that we had around 380 in attendance, but the following week we had just 250. Why is this the case? The increase in attendance was because we invited many people to celebrate God’s goodness in allowing us to move into our new church building. I thank everyone for making the extra effort in getting the word out and inviting many to join us on that glorious day! I noticed in general, church attendance will fluctuate depending on the occasion. Christmas, Easter, Child Dedication, Mothers’ Day, etc. tends to draw more people to the service. I understand it is much easier to invite our family and friends to these special events because they would leave feeling extremely encouraged with God’s work at Sonlife Church.
I wonder if this would change if we put the focus on the person of Christ and not on the program for Christians. What I mean is that, because Christ is present at all celebration services and we come to exalt the name of Jesus Christ, surely the goal each weekend is for everyone to leave the service having encountered Jesus Christ! In fact, if we know that Christ is present and He is able to meet our needs, surely that must be the best reason to invite people along to the weekend service.
As a pastor, there have been moments when I struggle with coming to church on Sunday. Trust me, I am being honest. However, the one thing that has helped my family and I in growing our faithfulness each weekend is to simply remind ourselves that Jesus is present at Sonlife Church. That we can come before him and his people to worship him, to hear from him, to have an encounter with him and to serve him. That has kept us on the journey of faithfulness. I am praying for our church to see a faithfulness with Sunday worship and a culture of invitation in this new and exciting season!
Much love,
Pastor Binh