Time to plan for Back to Church Sunday
Deadline to order resources is June 15!
By Ana Watts
What do a Saturday morning market, urban business district on a weekday morning, and a movie line-up for a block-buster opening have in common? People. Lots and lots of people. And that makes them great places to distribute back to church invitations.
On Sept. 26 the Diocese of Fredericton will join the rest of the Anglican Church of Canada — plus many of our Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada friends — in hosting Back to Church Sunday. The members of the House of Bishops were so impressed by the first-time efforts and results in the Diocese of Toronto in 2009 they are encouraging all their parishes across the country to participate.
Last September all the Toronto bishops, coped and mitred, stood outside Union Station on a busy weekday morning and offered invitations to thousands of commuters. Anglicans all over the diocese also invited their friends or neighbours too.
“About 2,600 people accepted their invitations to come back to church,” says our Archbishop Claude Miller. “More importantly, though, more than 350 of them were still coming to church three months later! The average retention rate for the whole program seems to be about 15 per cent. Imagine what a difference 15 per cent more Anglicans could make in our parishes and diocese. It would be transformational! We would be well on our way to meeting our challenges and building the kind of church God needs to fulfill his mission in this place.”
Archbishop Miller has yet to decide what busy spot in Fredericton he will choose to pass out invitations, but he’s got lots of options, and he will have lots of posters and invitations from Augsburg Fortress to help support the Back to Church Sunday message. The resource kits support the ministry, are very reasonably priced and available to everyone, but they must be ordered before June 15! They are available at the Anglican Book Centre, 80 Hayden Street in Toronto, 416/924-9199, extension 224 as well as on-line. The resource packs are the program’s only source of funding.
The invitations are only the first step, though. Churches need to be prepared to welcome their guests. The UK Back to Church Sunday website offers practical suggestions.
Bishops’ participation in a Back to Church Sunday event is key because their stature in the community and their vestments garner lots of media coverage, which further enhances the Back to Church Sunday message, but everyone is encouraged to participate. The bishops need clergy and lay people to support them at their venues, and clergy and parishioners throughout the diocese are encouraged to present Back to Church Sunday to their communities in ways that are meaningful and appropriate to them.
“We are also encouraged to set up a coffee station at our public venues,” says Archbishop Miller. “It’s sort of a national, weekday version of an after-church coffee hour. I believe some places are actually having Back to Church Sunday invitations printed on the coffee cups, and of course we are encouraged to serve fair trade coffee.”
Back to Church Sunday is the largest single local-church invitational initiative in the world. It is based on the simplest and shortest step in evangelism. “We should invite someone we already know to something we love; invite our friend to our church,” says Archbishop Miller.
While the program began in the United Kingdom with the initial focus to invite 'back' those who used to attend, the program ensures that anyone who doesn't currently attend can be guaranteed a specially warm welcome. Back to Church Sunday is endorsed by The Anglican Church of Canada, and used globally by many Christian denominations.
Diocesan Communications
27 April 2010
