Sunday, September 12, 2010 40 Days of Prayer & Impact: 28 Days to Launch

Today, there are 28 DAYS before the Encounter Grand Opening on 10-10-10. We are asking you to join us in what God is doing and is going to do in these last 40 days.

Pray with us. Act with us. Imagine the impact we could have in Helena if each one of us is individually involved in making Helena a better place. Imagine the lives that could be touched. Imagine how the spiritual landscape of our community could be changed even BEFORE the grand opening.

National Back to Church Sunday?

Today, we are looking at Hebrew 10:23-25 ...

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

You may or may not know that today is National Back to Church Sunday. What an interesting concept to dedicate a single annual day where church-goers intentionally invite their friends and family to go to church. Please don't get me wrong, but I can't help but feel that such an event is an adventure in missing the point.

For the most part, those estimated 8 million people who once attended church are not absent now because no one has invited them back. It goes much deeper. As Thom Rainer wrote in his book Essential Church, those who do not attend have not found the church experience essential to their lives. Those things that should make our "meeting together" essential have been missing — true authentic relationships with others, a safe place to explore and be encouraged, a place where broken things are restored, and most importantly, the love and grace of Jesus.

Take, for instance, the example of a woman who wrote this blog article on her decision to no longer attend church. I'm not saying all her arguments are valid, I'm just saying that we need to listen deeper to the true needs she expresses. Specifically, she wants to spend more time with her family. She wants "to have authentic relationships with people." The sad thing is that she has not found these within her community of faith and is going outside the church to find them.

Let us not neglect our meeting together.

TODAY'S PRAYER

Our goal is not to get people to come back to a church building. Our true prayer is for people to encounter God. Our prayer is that people would move toward a growing relationship with Jesus, because a relationship with Jesus brings life. And when people experience "life to the full" as Jesus promises, they also long to share these things with others who have discovered the same. Then our meetings together become an opportunity "to motivate one another to acts of love and good works," an opportunity to "encourage one another" and hold tightly to the promises of God.

So let us pray today, that we would be an example of the Church, and an example of the people that Jesus intended. Pray that, like the burning bush, people would encounter God through us. In our daily interactions as we invest our lives into those around us, we pray that they will truly know Jesus.

TODAY'S IMPACT

Instead of choosing just one day a year to invite people to a church event, we are called to live lives every day that intentionally invite people to know Jesus personally. As part of that process, we develop relationships inside and outside our community of faith. Today's impact is two-fold.

1. Make plans NOW to "not neglect meeting together" by gathering next Sunday for the Encounter Sneak Peek Worship Gathering.
2. Use this week to begin developing a lifestyle of intentionally investing your life into others. Invite a friend or family member to a meal, to a movie, to a conversation, to coffee, or something else. As you develop that relationship, they will see Jesus through you — and you will have the opportunity to invite them to meet with others who are on the same journey. You might even be able to invite them to the Grand Opening on 10-10-10!