For the past couple of years, New Covenant Church has celebrated National Back To Church Sunday by having what we call the Big Event after our Sunday church service.
Traditionally, it has always been a time where we eat great food, play fun games, have a water slide for the kids, and enjoy this out-of-the-ordinary opportunity for fellowship.
It is always a great day!
However, every year there is an underlining theme of the Big Event.
Our pastors talk about it until they’re blue in the face, but it’s not always carried out.
The Big Event is not for church people!
The Big Event is not centered around the New Covenant Church congregation getting together to fellowship, it is first and foremost about evangelism.
It is about the community.
It is about reaching out and inviting people to church, mainly those who might not have encountered Jesus before.
Inviting people you work with, meet at Walmart, estranged family members, complete strangers, and basically everyone else to come to church!
But, shouldn’t we be inviting people to church every Sunday?
Yes, absolutely.
But, the Big Event has a special quality to it that allows for evangelistic bravery.
It’s the best opportunity for people who don’t usually go out of their way to be “extra social” to reach out to the unchurched and unsaved to invite them into the fold!
It is a lot easier to invite people if they know there will be free food, games for their children, and free prizes afterward.
So, are we bribing people to come to church?
No.
Our vision at New Covenant Church is to connect with God, connect with others, and to create community.
The Big Event is a great way for newcomers to not only connect with God through our normal Sunday service but to connect with others by staying afterward for fellowship.
Simply put, the heart behind the Big Event is to give new people a reason to stay after service so we can get to know them, their story, and connect with them on a personal level that we may not have been able to achieve had they come on any other Sunday.
So if the Big Event is not for church people, what does that mean for us?
While the Big Event may not be for you, it can’t reach its true potential without you!
Besides putting information on our website and social media platforms hoping someone sees them, we need the congregation to do the real inviting.
Without your help, the Big Event will miss its mark of reaching out to the community of Tyler and seeing lives radically changed and saved.
We need you to reach out to people in your life outside of the church to help grow the family of NCC, the fellowship of our tribe, and (most importantly) the Kingdom of God!
