New people

Jul 31, 2024 | 1 comment

by Deacon Peggy Hahn (she/her), Executive Director at LEAD

New people come to church for ONE CORE reason – they are looking for the love of Jesus. They are starving for a God that is bigger than the trauma, suffering, and pain in our world. They are wondering if the Holy Spirit could be moving in their life.

The core reason is bigger than politics, inclusion, diversity, hospitality, or anything you can name.

The core reason? They are hungry for the Triune God.

We are wired for this search in our very DNA. Even if we don’t realize it, we are made in the image of God, and we are magnetically drawn back to God.

As the Church, we could spend the rest of our lives focused on this question Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do people say that I am?” followed directly by a “Who do you say that I am?”

As you plan the ministry season ahead – think about a Fall kick-off, Advent, etc., are you thinking about this?

We can learn everything we need to know about hospitality from Priya Parker. We can learn all we need to know about building successful teams from or creating life-giving habits from James Clear. Frankly, we can Google anything we want to know, but the Church invites us to experience the Triune God.

Yes, relationships are the glue that bind a community together, yet remember, the relationship that calls people in the door is with the living God. Living in us – and living in them.

Our LEAD Team is praying that as you lead your congregation this Fall, you create space for people to wrestle with their God-size questions as we endure the realities of a presidential election, on-going wars, cancer, addictions, and anything else we encounter. Remember we are being held together by the God of the universe. After all, this is why we go to church. We can get just about anything else anywhere else.

1 Comment