Church of God USA Missions Partners with ‘Back to Church Sunday’
Church of God USA Missions is entering into a new strategic partnership with Dr. James Davis and the Billion Souls Network, and the Back to Church movement. According to a statement released by Dr. James E. Cossey, administrative coordinator, the first area of involvement will be promotion of the annual Back to Church Sunday, scheduled for September 21, 2014.
Back to Church Sunday is a pastor-led, local church outreach/church growth strategy. It began as a movement to invite everyone in America back to church by empowering and motivating church members to invite their family and friends to come with them to a special service hosted by their local congregation. A complete array of promotional and implementation resources is available at www.backtochurch.com.
The Back to Church Sunday emphasis is endorsed by dozens of denominational and parachurch leaders, including Dr. Mark L. Williams, general overseer of the Church of God, Dr. George O. Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, and Dr. Elmer Towns, co-founder of Liberty University, among others.
Thom Ranier, in The Unchurched Next Door, says that while 82 percent of unchurched Americans say they are somewhat likely to attend church if invited by a friend, as few as 2 percent say that have ever specifically invited someone to come with them to church. Back to Church Sunday is designed to assist pastors in resourcing their members to reverse this trend.
A mass email detailing how pastors and local churches can become involved in Back to Church Sunday will be sent in the next few days to all Church of God pastors and church treasurers in the United States and Canada.
(Source: USA Missions)
