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Wednesday, 06 July 2011 |
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I get hundreds of emails every week – most of which are just an exchange of information. I do get the odd challenging one and I also get some that are really encouraging. In this Blog I want to share an encouraging one with you. A guy who attended Bayside Church many years ago wrote it. He and his wife had then relocated interstate for a while and they have just returned to Melbourne and to Bayside Church. Last week he wrote me the following:
I just wanted to write… about why I came back to your church this time. What was my motivation? It was the search for pleasure. That sounds like a funny reason to come back to church. People come to church because they are looking for God, or out of a sense of duty or something like that. Not because they are looking for pleasure. That is not supposed to be the reason why anyone comes to church. But it was the reason why I came.
I was lying in bed one Sunday morning early three weeks ago and I was reflecting on my life and it came to me that there was no pleasure or enjoyment in my life. I mean my life is very rich and full, but it seemed to me at that time that everything I did was just drudgery. There was no joy in it.
And the question that arose in me demanding an answer was where was I to find joy and the answer that came to me was that I was to find it in your church. I will not say this message came to me from God, because that sounds a bit pretentious, but I will say that it seemed to arise from the innermost depths of my being. It sort of floated up from the depths of my soul.
Anyway, that instinct, that uprising, that revelation, call it what you will, has proven to be a correct receiving because coming to your church has enlivened me.
I believe that this is the answer for attracting people to church. People will come to church when they actually feel that this is the most enjoyable and valuable thing that they can be doing. They will come to church when they feel that church is more entertaining than going to the pictures or watching TV.
Sometimes when I am in your church I feel that there is nothing more entertaining that I could be doing in all the world. Entertaining may seem like a trivial word, but actually in its deepest sense I think it is quite meaningful. I mean it in a meaningful way, not a trivial way. I feel it is really entertaining to be in church. My feelings are stirred and uplifted and enlivened. I am constantly entertained by the worship and the music. I feel profoundly entertained by events such as that children's day. There is nothing more enjoyable or valuable that I could be doing. It is more entertaining than being down at Southland (shopping centre) watching some trashy and ultimately unsatisfying and unnutritious movie. The food at this church is not only wholesome and nutritious but also colourful and tasty and that is what people want.
I couldn’t agree more. The God of Scripture, of creation, of redemption is colourful, joyful and satisfying. His church – His people – should be the same.
“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11)
Church has changed – Check it out!
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