View from the Vicarage

How do people come to Christ today?

Luke 24v. 32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

In the 1970’s, in my early years as a Christian, it seemed that the main way in which people became Christians was by attending an evangelistic event. After a powerful presentation of the Christian message an invitation would be offered for people to make a commitment to Christ. Trained counsellors would talk to them and help them make a commitment. The high noon of this approach was probably ‘Mission England’ which happened about 25 years ago with Billy Graham. At that time I was very much involved in the mission held at Anfield Football Stadium in Liverpool. I remember 000’s stepping forward at the end to speak to a counsellor.

As the 90’s went on the then Archbishop announced a ‘Decade of Evangelism’. Undoubtedly in my mind the single most important movement to emerge from this was ALPHA. Alpha took evangelism forward in a very important direction. Instead of making a once off presentation of Christian truth to which you either supported or distanced yourself, it encouraged people to form relationships. The meal at the beginning of each evening was important for this. Instead of merely presenting truth Alpha was interested in facilitating dialogue and questions. As people went on the Alpha course they found that they began to taste something of the Christian life that was enormously appealing. Much more emphasis was placed on the experiential. Instead of lasting for a day or a week it continued for 10 weeks. At the end of 10 weeks most people, whether or not they believed, wanted to continue in some way.

I was personally involved in leading Alpha courses for about 10 years in Nottingham and over that time I noticed one tendency. In the first couple of years people would make a firm commitment after 3 or 4 weeks or sometimes at the away day. By about 2004 I was finding that often people would go through the whole course without making any commitment. Sometimes we would get to week 10 and no decision to follow Christ was made. At first I felt a little bit despondent about this, but what I noticed was that although people made no commitment they still joined the church, and gradually they would be drawn up into the spiritual life of the church.

This is in some way relates to our post modern culture which is uncomfortable with any truth claim. Acceptance of truth will only come when it touches not just the mind but also the heart, spirit and soul of a person.

This leads me to one very important conclusion. People will often belong for a long period of time before they come to believe. The main point of this article is simply to put before us all the challenge, ‘How can I do what I can to make it easy for my friend or neighbour to belong?’ It is the task then of the rest of the body of Christ to introduce your friend or neighbour to the wonderful privilege of knowing Jesus.

Much of what we do as a church must be geared around helping the person who has just dipped his or her toe into the church discover a little more in the context of feeling welcomed into our community.

How hurtful it is when a person feels excluded
I recently visited the widow of a war veteran who told me that when her husband was serving in the forces just after the second world war her young children grew up not knowing him. She told me that her young daughter and son went up to the garden fence and said, ‘dada dada’ to the neighbour. The neighbour gently told the children that he was not their dad. When their father was eventually demobbed, feeling bruised with the aftermath of war, the two young children treated him as a stranger and pushed him away. How hurtful this must have been. Of course as the years went by the children grew up to love and accept their father.

How tragic it is when a church is unwelcoming. At my former church in Nottingham there was a lady reader from Jamaica, who when her family first arrived in Nottingham were told not to attend a particular church because of their colour. It was suggested to them that there might be a more suitable church for them elsewhere. Amazingly this lady later became a reader in the denomination that once rejected her.

How easy it can be to make it difficult for others to belong
A few months ago I was talking to a most godly Free Church minister who was leader of a church not in Eastbourne who told me that people could only become members if they attended the weekly church prayer meeting for at least 6 months. I asked him how many church members there were, and his response was 17. Far be it from me to criticise, but I would make one observation; if you make it difficult for people to belong, then the numbers who eventually jump through the hoops will be few.

Have you had the experience on holiday of walking into a church hoping to attend a service, and everything is unfamiliar. You are not quite sure where to sit, you don’t know which books are used and you may be sitting in someone’s pew. However, a church that is well prepared will be sensitive to the visitor, help them to find a seat and will neither smother nor ignore them.

How important it is to belong. I was delighted at our recent Easter services to see the large number of people come into our building. We ran out of service sheets, had to put out extra chairs and everyone in the pews had to squash up to make room for people. Most of all however it was inspiring to hear young Sophie explain why she wanted to be baptised and to hear how God had been working in the lives of Andrew and Jenny Barber as part of the 40 days of purpose group. Similarly for the production of ‘Moses the Musical’ was an inspiring event. It all pointed to the attractiveness of Christ and how good it was to belong.

Our congregation did a splendid job in terms of drawing people in over the Easter period. I was told that on Easter Sunday morning we had about 485 people present. Many of them were local to ourselves and not part of our regular membership. How can we continue to be a welcoming church, and help those who like being part of our community discover the transforming joy of knowing Jesus personally?

We have a great privilege of being part of a wonderfully vibrant church community. We will always look at ways we can take forward God’s mission. Let us all work hard at helping our friend and neighbour to belong so that they might also come to believe.

Robert Lovatt