The summer is a notorious time for church slumps. We've dealt with it already in our first summer. People on vacations really seem to rip the heart out of the momentum of attendance. But are things as slumpy as they seem?
Our Operations team has been challenged with this statement all summer, "We can and must grow this summer." And despite the numbers I believe we are growing. Here are my reasons.
1. So many people are traveling, but they'll be coming back.
I can't wait for September. I really believe that as we head into the Compassion Journey that we're going to see all the people who have been away, all coming back. Then it's going to feel like a growth spurt, but we haven't even added anyone yet.
2. The growth that's happening during the down time.
I'm so thankful for people like Rob who, last week, brought three guests with him. I was excited myself this week to have a guest that I invited come. As we continue to be faithful in inviting, God will continue to grow the church. When these people come and join us for the Compassion Journey, we're gonna look around and say, "Wow, when did we become a church of 50?" Our answer will probably be that we grew because of the Compassion Journey, we grew in the fall, etc. The fact will be that we've been growing all along, it just didn't look like it.
So what do we do with what's left of the summer? I want to ask you to dig in and invite, invite, invite. Invitation is the sowing and reaping of church growth. We need to be a church of inviters.
--Ben
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