As millions of Americans head back to school, organizers of a new faith-based outreach campaign hope that millions more will come back to church as well.

The “Back to Church Sunday” campaign (www.backtochurch.com) from San Diego-based Outreach Inc. makes it easy for church members to invite their friends and family by creating a worship service specifically geared toward visitors.

The program kicks off with national “Back to Church Sunday” on Sept.13 aimed at reaching the “un-churched” and “de-churched”– people who used to go to church, but don’t any more.

The campaign is based on a simple idea. If you ask un-churched people to come with you to church–mostly likely they’ll say yes.

LifeWay Research, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, found that 82 percent of un-churched people surveyed said that they’d be open to visit a church, if a friend or family member invited them.

Unfortunately, said Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay, few church members invite their friends and neighbors. “Only two percent of church members invite an un-churched person to church,” he says. “Ninety-eight percent of churchgoers never extend an invitation in a given year.”

While most Americans say they believe in God, and many tell pollsters that they attend church regularly, only about 20 percent of Americans actually show up in church on Sunday, according to the “The American Church in Crisis,” a recent study of church attendance.

Organizers say most people who drop out of church haven’t lost their faith in God. Instead, they fell out of the habit of churchgoing. Some moved or had another change in life circumstances, or had a falling out with their former church and simply drifted away. Most often, life simply became too busy.

That means they are open to returning to church.

“Many de-churched people are a simple re-invitation away,” says Mark Batterson, of the National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

Inviting newcomers is only part of the campaign. The other part is getting the church ready for them to show up. Outreach has put together several tools to help churches prepare for visitors.

A free downloadable planning guide offers advice on everything from sermon planning to instructions for greeters. Churches are asked to plan for the program and to make sure their buildings are visitor friendly. They’re also encouraged to pay attention to small details–like clear signage and clean bathrooms–that are important to visitors.

“When people come to church for the first time, or come back after a long absence, they notice everything,” says Nelson Searcy, lead pastor of The Journey in New York City. “In fact, most of them form innate judgments about the environment within seven seconds of walking through the door.”

Organizers point out that returning to church is a process. “Rebuilding trust with this group is essential, and building trust requires authenticity and consistency,” says the campaign-organizing guide. “Otherwise, your returning guests may feel that you have tried a ‘bait and switch.'”

Along with the campaign planning guide and an interactive Facebook page (www.facebook.com/backtochurch), Outreach has put together a “Rethink Church” booklet, addressing the 10 top reasons why people drop out of church, along with videos, articles and other resources. The booklet addresses common objections such as, “I don’t believe in organized religion,” “Church is boring,” and “Christians are judgmental and hypocritical.”

“Back to Church Sunday has the potential to be a day that changes the future course of someone’s life,” says Chad McCallum, lead pastor of Compass Church in Byron Center, Mich. “In a world where so many people fall into the definition of ‘de-churched,’ this is a doable effort for any church that wants to reach more people for Christ.”

Outreach, Inc. (www.outreach.com) is the largest provider of outreach products and services in North America, including “Outreach” magazine, the most-read pastor’s magazine in the world. The company was launched with the mission of empowering Christian churches to reach their communities for Jesus Christ. Outreach, Inc. endeavors to create a network of churches and ministries working together to invite and connect every person in America to a Bible-believing church and ultimately into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

(Source: Christian Newswire)

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BELGIUM — The main objective of the ministry will be to preach the Gospel and to train disciples by sending them in a local church, where they will receive spiritual food and will fellowship with other Christians.

By Wanderson and Jesana Machado

God planted a dream in our hearts, a vision, which is based on Matthew 28:19, “Go, make all nations of the disciples.” We know for that to become a reality we need to walk under the cloud of the Lord in order to receive the strategies and the direction to achieve this vision. Biblically, we know that when we miss the vision, we perish. Since the day when we accepted the challenge to achieve and obey the call of our Lord Jesus Christ, we started to pray and seek clear and practical strategies to achieve the great mandate.

Evangelization

In the Gospel of Mark 16:15, we find the first step of the vision: TO PREACH the Gospel. The Lord Jesus did not ask us in this text to preach, but He gives us an order: “GO.”

The main goal is to preach the Word of God, in unreached countries and cities. Our desire, challenge and main goal for evangelism is to use all means, possible and available, in order to achieve the goal, such as doing the work of evangelism with small groups or cells; evangelism in public places (in accordance with the religious freedom of the country); crusades; revival conferences for open evangelism; and evangelism work in universities and hospitals.

Making disciples

“Go, make disciples of all the nations, by baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

We know that the greatest challenge of the church today is to make disciples for Jesus and like Jesus. During centuries, thousands of people were won for the kingdom of God, however there was no follow up and strengthening for spiritual growth. People did not continue to serve Jesus and ended by giving up the faith. The great mandate is more than wining a soul; we are to make disciples. We have the greatest pattern and example to follow: the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, our objective is to train disciples for Jesus who are radical towards sin and the world, who are ready to lose their lives for Jesus, who will be ready to train other disciples to know the meaning of worship and who seek only the glory of God. We believe all that will be possible through a “discipleship center” where there will be biblical teachings and a follow-up for the new convert.

Establishment of new churches (Multicultural)

The main objective of the ministry will be to preach the Gospel and to train disciples by sending them in a local church, where they will receive spiritual food and will fellowship with other Christians. Nevertheless, in the absence of a local church, which has the responsibility of caring for the spiritual growth of the new convert, the ministry will be given the responsibility to establish a new local church, thus ensuring the continuity of the missionary work.

Missionary Training Center (MTC)

We also plan to train those who will carry the missionary work throughout the world. For that, we established a Missionary Training Center to accommodate, involve and send all those which will accept the Lord’s call, and who decide to consecrate their lives by doing the wonderful work of a missionary to the borders of the earth.

In the MTC, besides biblical and theological training teachings, we will also offer an opportunity to be trained in other languages and cultures. We will also have what will be called practical opportunities of the ministry, where we will make each person to be useful in a practical ministry, such as evangelism, establishment of churches, Bible studies in a (prayer) cell, discipleship, drama, worship, and music.

Wanderson and Jesana Machado
Church of God Missionaries to Belgium
Project Number 1029032

© 2009 Church of God World Missions