The purpose on Sunday night at Circle Church was to service the needs of our supportive membership. This may have been the most important way it was “a service.” If it best facilitated our needs not to schedule a meeting, we would leave the evening open. If the choir needed extra time to prepare for concert work, Sunday evening was the occasion.
This outlook assisted us greatly in fulfilling our desire of releasing the church to interact within the world. For example, when we began, we realized that not only did many of us have difficulty communicating our faith, but few of us had cultivated in-depth friendships with people outside our church-oriented community.
Several Sunday evenings were spent sharing ways in which we could profitably express our beliefs, culminating in another Sunday evening when the church members met, not in the building, but in their individual homes. Each member had prayerfully invited to dinner some acquaintance to whom he or she wished to extend companionship.
During the week preceding these dinners, we all remembered one another in prayer, as well as the next-door neighbors who were considering divorce, the classmate who had attempted suicide, the international student who was lost and bewildered by his stateside visit, and others.
The following Sunday night we met again to report on progress and found great commonality of experience. One of the most frequently noted was the simple matter of deciding whether or not to say a prayer before the meal! The emphasis proved very helpful. If the same approach had been scheduled for a series of week nights, however, it probably would not have gotten off the ground.
This attempt confirmed our general consensus that evangelism is best done on a one-to-one basis within the framework of proven interest and friendship. This need not prevent us from meeting together in a corporate attempt at sharing our faith.
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Pastor, when “sermon prep day” rolls around each week, do you face the task of preparing another sermon with a frown on your face? If so, you’re not alone. Many pastors literally dread preparing their Sunday sermon. There just doesn’t seem to be an easy solution. The good news: David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
