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A summary of a plenary by GRANT SCHNARR

In the last Missionary Memo we quoted Donnette Alfelt from the Bryn Athyn Cathedral as saying, "The most important part of evangelization is not getting people into the church but getting the church into people." This is so true. In our mission to cooperate with the Lord in building the Lord's church in people's minds, hearts, and lives, we recognize that the church we all pray will grow is the spiritual church of the Lord. People growing in their love and faith in the Lord are what the church and evangelization are all about. But I also believe that the way for this to happen is to help bring people to the organized church, and to foster individual growth and community within that fellowship. So, if our goal is to get the church into people, the best way to do this is to get the people into the church. People can benefit in so many ways by being part of the church organization. It offers a fellowship united in worship of the Lord, dedicated to living His Word, supportive of one another on the path toward heaven, and cooperates with the Lord in establishing His kingdom. This is the real church (See Arcana Caelestia #10761-5).

I have traveled to many New Church centers in the world to work with congregations to develop a plan for reaching out and growing. Many congregations do a fine job of reaching out, yet some struggle to find ways to grow. Every congregation is different, and the challenges are different. However, I have found that there are three areas all congregations can focus on to help them reach out more effectively and to help the Lord's church to grow. These three components of evangelization are essential for growth. They are the following:

1. Invite - Gathering people to the church.
2. Welcome -Create a welcome home for newcomers.
3. Assimilate - Help visitors become disciples.

You need all three of these to actually be successful in church growth. Inviting alone, without any thought as to how visitors are treated, or what they will experience will not lead to them staying. Having a dynamic welcoming committee and being seeker sensitive in church offerings is a good thing, but without some sort of campaign to bring people to the church there is no one to welcome. And assimilation, that is, the means of helping newcomers become full members of the church, cannot happen if you don't have newcomers coming in. You need all three.

The Writings tell us that, "It is the essence of love to love others outside of oneself, to desire to be one with them, and to render them blessed from oneself" (True Christian Religion 43). I think there is a parallel between these components of love and the three components of evangelization. Inviting people to church is all about loving others outside of oneself. Do we care about people outside of our circle? Do we, like the good Samaritan, have compassion on those who are in need? Welcoming people is tantamount to "rendering them blessed from oneself", which is really an act of external and internal charity. To help assimilate people as full members of the congregation is to "desire to be one with them." The first act of the disciples in inaugurating the New Church on June 19, 1770 was an act of evangelization. They went out into the whole spiritual world not only to proclaim the good news that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns but also to invite people to come to the New Church with these words: "Blessed are they who come to the wedding supper of the Lamb" (True Christian Religion 791). We are also told in Apocalypse Explained why the Lord chose fishermen to spread His church. "The Lord choosing these fishermen and saying that 'they should become fishers of men,' signifies that they should gather to the church" (513.15). Let us look at these components of invitation, gathering, and helping to make disciples of the Lord's Second Coming.

Components of Invitation

The scope of inviting people ranges from seed scattering to personal invitation. There are many ways of inviting people to the church. Some of these include: personal contact, advertising, press releases, invitations to church related functions, community service, direct mail, special events, web-site, door to door, booths at events, bookstore, book distribution, study/spiritual growth groups to which the public is invited, events or articles featuring the church school, seeker sensitive small groups, billboard, television, and any other way in which the public is given an invitation to "come and see".

The key concept in invitation is personal contact. We know from experts in the field that personal contact is the number one means of evangelization. Within personal contact, or friends inviting friends to church, there is instant credibility, a friend and guide at church, a person to answer questions, someone to introduce the newcomer to friends, and many more benefits. There is an old saying in evangelization: "Live the New Church until people ask you why. When they ask you why say "Come and see."

Are there new opportunities in your church group for helping members introduce friends to the church? Is there a way of raising the comfort level and giving members a sense of confidence in talking about the church and inviting others to come and see? What steps can you take in this area?

Components of Welcoming

Reverend Robert Jungé's article, Toward a Philosophy of Missionary Work, is a must read in evangelization. It can be found in the 1965 New Church Life. (If you do not have access to this volume General Church Outreach would be happy to send you a copy.) In this article, Robert Jungé compares the entrance into the spiritual world as described in Heaven and Hell to entrance into the church. This is a fascinating parallel. Note these passages as they might relate to welcoming newcomers: "All who come into the other life are without exception welcome and accepted as guests" (Arcana Caelestia 119). "When he has come into the enjoyment of light, the spiritual angels render him every service he can possibly desire in that state and teach him about the things of the other life as far as he can comprehend them" (Heaven and Hell 450). "Novitiate spirits are even taken into the homes of angels" (Arcana Caelestia 1613). What I draw from these passages is how much care the angels show to newcomers to the other world.

The scope of welcoming ranges from the signage outside your church to inviting newcomers into the homes of members. Some of the means of welcoming are: having a visible and accessible facility, clear signs, clear order of service, a variety of teaching methods, motivating message, greeters, name-tags, program to help members warmly welcome and answer questions, and having all aspects of your church service newcomer oriented. The most important of these is, to my mind, having a congregation that warmly welcomes newcomers. People can tell very quickly if they are not welcomed, or if people seem to feel uncomfortable having newcomers, or if people pay no attention to them. In order to help congregations become more welcoming, the culture of the congregation often needs to change. This takes time and patient leadership from the Word, emphasizing charity on its varying levels, helping people see life from a newcomers eyes, and having compassion. Asking a newcomer, "Who are your parents?" to make a connection may not be the best thing. I remember the General Church Assembly in Wisconsin several years ago. Several members of the Chicago New Church were tired of being asked who they were related to. They wore buttons on their lapels which said, "YOU DON'T KNOW MY MOTHER." It is important to welcome newcomers as individuals.

Assimilation

Assimilation is helping newcomers become active members of the church. The scope of assimilation ranges from helping converts to assisting children born and raised in the church. Some means of measuring a person's assimilation are the following:

1. Do they regularly attend church or church functions?
2. Do they have five to ten new friends at the church?
3. Do they participate in some sort of small group? (Choir, spiritual growth or study group, etc.)
4. Do they have an identifiable role or task in the church?
5. Do they give to the church?
6. Do they call it "my church?"

I believe the key concept in assimilation is this principle: The truth often leads people to the church, but the relationships are what keep them in church. We know from the Writings that love is what binds people together and forms societies in heaven. This is also true on a spiritual level with people who are on earth. Are there things we, as members of the congregation, can do to help people become part of the community, both newcomers and upcoming generations?

Conclusion

The Writings tell us that, "Love and wisdom, without action, are only imaginary concepts. They become real when they are used" (Apocalypse Revealed 875). We cannot expect someone else to do the work of evangelization for us. It is an effort which involves the entire congregation in all three of these areas. Are we inviting people to the church through various means, including personal contact? Is our church a welcoming home for newcomers? Do we have established means to help people become fully assimilated into our congregations? These are questions we must not only ask, but must answer. The answers must necessarily be in terms of action.

"'And let the one hearing say, Come, and let the thirsting one come, and let the willing one take the water of life freely' signifies that one who knows anything of the Lord's coming, and of the New Heaven and the New Church, thus of the Lord's kingdom, will pray that it may come, and that one who longs for truths will pray that the Lord may come with light, and that one who loves truths is then going to accept those things from the Lord without any exertion of his or her own." Apocalypse Revealed 957