28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.-Luke 24:28-30
Thankfully, yesterday at Synod Assembly was much more interesting. We got to vote on a few interesting, though not very controversial issues and heard some good presentations. I particularly enjoyed a talk given by the our Synod head of Youth and Family Ministries, Tammy Jones West. She said that one of the questions she gets most from churches is "How do we get young adults into our church?"
I think that has been a struggle for many churches for a long time and there is no easy answer and no "one" answer. But several points were brought up all day of how to get all sorts of people into our churches. And what it boils down to, is we need to be asking those people what THEY need. Tammy quoted someone... and I don't remember who... who said "WE need to GO OUT into our communities and the world and get OURSELVES evangelized." We need to learn the needs of those who believe in God, but don't respond well to "organized religion." We need to find out what it is that is keeping them away and what we aren't offering.
And then our keynote speaker preached along the same lines at the Saturday night worship. The scripture was the Emmaus Road passage and a stranger appearing to the disciples and this "guest" becoming the "host." He told us that we need to do more than "be nice" to visitors. We must make them feel a part of the church family. Allow the to become the host. Allow them to serve. Because it is the host who is in the position of power and Christianity is all about empowering others.
We were given a lot of food for thought yesterday. Hopefully some good ideas will come out of it.
Lord Jesus,
Thank you for thoughtful speakers and preachers. Help us to put your word into action. Help us to evangelize ourselves by really getting to know others. Amen.
Joys: An awesome traditional worship... there is nothing like worshiping in large numbers!; Saturday; beach vacation in 2 weeks
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