National Back to Church Sunday: My Thoughts

Today is National Back to Church Sunday.

From the official website: "Back to Church Sunday is a campaign strategically designed to help churches reach out and invite everyone to try church again. This powerful movement encourages church attendance by inspiring and empowering church members to invite their neighbors, friends and loved ones to a special Sunday service designed just for them"

When I was growing up, outreach was everything: 

Invite your friends!

We have great music!

We have great messages!

We have great food!

We're friendly!

I'm not against outreach or outreaches in general, but I do think that today the Church has things backward.

Jesus never said "reach out" He said "go out", this is what He said & this is what He modeled. National Back to Church Sunday is all about wanting people to get out of their comfort zones to come into the Church's comfort zone to "give it another chance" but whatever happened to the Church getting out of their comfort zone & going into the people's comfort zone to impact, influence, pray w/ & for, heal, deliver, etc; actually doing the works that Jesus did? That's what Jesus modeled & the Church, the Ekklesia (for the most part/on a regular basis) is not doing that. Ministry is inside the building. Oh yeah, you're being equipped for ministry in the marketplace/community/neighborhood but how often are you really doing that?

It's all about "come" instead of "go". 

It'a all about come to our building so you can come to Jesus.

It's all about this is our turf, but come & check us out.

Here are my thoughts on it: National Back to Church Sunday comes across as laziness in light of the model of Jesus & the Great Commission.

How about a National Back to Being the Church Day? Where fellowships shut down their services on a Sunday morning (gasp!) & actually go into the community & minister at homeless shelters, at battered women's shelters, at the jail, at retirement homes, at orphanages, at the children's ward in various hospitals, on streets where hookers hang out, at the beach, at the park, at golf courses.... witnessing, encouraging, praying, serving, etc. etc. etc. If you look at the life of Jesus, He was so effective in ministry yet He spent most of His ministry time (95-99%) outdoors in the community & He didn't have a worship team w/ relavant music open for Him either.

How about the Church, the Ekklesia getting out of their comfort zone for a change? I realize this is only one Sunday a year to encourage people to come check out the Ekklesia & how they gather again but I think most people would be more inclined to check out your fellowship if the fellowship were modeling Jesus a little more accurately & a little more often.