If you build it...

I have said on many occasions-

"If we build it (this church), they won't come. But if we invite them, chances are very good they will."

Of course God has blessed us and we've heard some amazing stories of people finding our website or seeing a t-shirt and coming to our service. For those stories God gets 100% of the glory. We can certainly take no credit.

But the best story I've heard so far was this (I won't use his name)- a man came to the service on Sunday and none of us immediately recognized him. We asked if someone invited him. He informed us that during our picnic two weeks ago he was in the same park. Somebody from our team took the time to walk over and greet him. He handed the man one of our business cards, they talked for just a few moments, and then left with the simple invitation, "Please join us for one of our services."
Two weeks later he did. He then informed one of our team members that he had lived in Canada for 4 years and had never been invited to a church before. He even handed back the business card like it was a ticket to get in!

My "theory" has proven true several times over now. How amazing- people actually like to feel welcomed and invited. So profound (he wrote with a touch of sarcasm). Invite a friend, invite a neighbor, hey, invite a person in the park! If the invitation comes from the heart, chances seem pretty strong that person will come.

So I teach myself this lesson again today- as things progress with the strategic development of this church (and thanks to the help of others we really have some awesome plans that will soon be presented), as we get busy planning and producing our worship services, as we have so much work than can and will be done- none of that necessarily builds a church. That only builds programs, policy, and structures. To build the church you just can't miss the one and only raw material for construction- people. People connected with God and one another. That's how it's built.

If you care to read about an adventure in missing this point, the following is an obviously satirical story taken from www.larknews.com - but you get the point!

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — On Sunday morning at Horizon Christian Fellowship, a 15-member worship band cranks out praise songs and the pastor preaches with the aid of stadium lighting and jumbo-size screens. But the church, which is only eight months old, has an average attendance of just 28.
"If we build it, we believe they will come," says pastor Rick Allen, 26, a recent Bible college graduate.
Ninety percent of the people who attend the church participate in the service somehow, either in short dramas, humorous video clips or in traditional roles like ushering. This means that at times there is virtually no audience.
"We sit and listen in shifts," says one woman who is the lighting tech, third camera operator, head greeter and fifth grade Sunday school teacher.
Instead of starting a church in some "depressing little storefront," Allen says he decided to rent the biggest space he could find.
"It reflects our confidence in where we’re headed," he says.
But even at peak usage, the warehouse-style facility dwarfs the Sunday morning crowd. Large, empty corridors and ghostly Sunday school rooms sit unused. With the sermon and music being piped through the facility, it feels like an abandoned shopping mall.
In the massive nursery area, five kids have their pick of toys in a sprawling play room. The high-tech child care includes video surveillance and child-specific beepers, but few actual children.
"Attendance is down right now," says the nursery attendant, who is also the church secretary, missions trips coordinator and assistant to the youth pastor. "Usually we have eight kids, but the Hensons are out of town."
Allen expresses "a little frustration" that he hasn’t yet attracted the congregation he wants. Some in town say the size discrepancy makes the church feel "creepy." But Allen says his market research has identified the perfect place for a mega-church where the population was underserved. He remains confident that it will fill up.
"God honors faith," he says. "He won’t leave this place empty." •