Welcome:
I have heard it said that there is no second chance to make a first impression. I think that is true in many areas of life and especially in the church. The area where first impressions can be most important is when it comes to visitors that come to the church. Often, they are already uncomfortable, defensive and even looking for an excuse to not be there. Because of this we decided to form a welcome team that would help visitors feel… well… more welcome. We wanted to focus on three areas; greeting the people when they come in, getting the visitor’s information and organise seating. We now have three groups of two people that work in each of these areas. The first group’s goal is to greet each person with a smile and find out if they are visiting for the first time. If there is a visitor they take them to the visitor’s table where they are given a packet of information about the church and a visitor’s card to fill out. Then the last group helps them find a seat and makes sure there are extra seats when the others are full. It has been really amazing to see not only how this has helped with people coming into the church, but also to see how everyone has been excited to participate in this ministry. We had a visitor this past week that made the comment that he was very impressed with how everyone greeted him and how many people were involved. All of this of course, is so that more people will be able to better hear the gospel without distractions and trust Christ.
Let me ask you a Question:
For the past few years our visitation / evangelism program has been to reach out to as many people as possible with the gospel. We have left tracts in more than 13,000 doors covering an area equally in every direction from our church. Although we were not able to speak with each and every one of these people we wanted make sure that they at least had an opportunity to hear the gospel and be saved. This year we are doing something a little different. In Sunday School, I have been teaching on Personal Evangelism, with the goal that each person would be able to share the gospel with someone else. Part of that class has included a questionnaire to use whole speaking with people on the street. We decided to give it a try one Saturday and the response was very surprising. The questionnaire starts out asking general questions like: “How long have you lived here” and then moves on to asking them if they attend church. The key to how it has worked has been in the fact that we are just recording their answers and not trying to argue with them. When they realise that, they seem to let their defences down and when we ask if they would like for us to return some day to show what the Bible says about how to go to heaven almost all of them have said yes. We currently have a new couple visiting the church and one young girl that has made a profession of faith.
It’s School Time:
We would like to say a special thanks to Bro. Roland Rancourt and Heritage Baptist Church for helping purchase school supplies for the kids that attend our children’s club. Many of the families of these children are very poor and don’t have the resources to be able to purchase all the supplies that they need. In all, we were able to give close to 50 packets away with things like notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, and paper. It was amazing to see the smiles on the kid’s faces when they received their materials.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for the our upcoming father’s day celebration this month.
2. Pray for the men of our church as we have a few special days focusing on spiritual leadership.
3. Pray for the Bourdet Family as Diego, a man that had been in our church, passed away from a heart attack.
4. Pray for many that have been affected by flooding here in Bolivia.