Who's Your One?
Today I want to share a few numbers with you.
There are 40 MILLION Americans who are dechurched. These are people who used to attend church and stopped going. Most of them still say they believe in basic Christian doctrine. It's just that for a variety of reasons, they stopped attending church. If you divide that evenly by state and then by county, that means that there are 16,000 dechurched people in Cabarrus and Mecklenberg counties. But that's not just people. That's probably more like 16,000 dechurched families. Most of them would be willing to come to church again. All they need is an invite. The vast majority of them, by the way, are white... and you probably know them.
The greater Charlotte area is the 5th most unchurched city in the United States. We are literally swimming in people who don't know Jesus. They are all around you.
The last statistic I heard was that 7 out of 10 people in CABARRUS COUNTY don't go to church anywhere. Most of them are not Christians.
Next week is Holy Week and we have three opportunities. First, we'll be gathering for prayer all week, and that's important. Think about one person you know who isn't a follower of Jesus and start praying for them. Think about one person you know who is dechurched and start praying for them also. As an aside, the way you can know if they're dechurched is ask the following questions:
- Do you go to church? If no...
- Have you ever attended a church? If yes...
- Where did you go before?
- I would love to hear your story about why you stopped going to church.
Then stop talking and just listen. Don't correct them. Don't try to make it better. Just listen. Then tell them how much you would love them to join you at New Life.
Second, we will have the Community Cookout and Egg Hunt on 30 March. What a great way to get to meet people! Invite the people for whom you are praying! Come out and help, if you can.
Finally, we have Easter Sunday. For people who used to go to church, Easter is one of the times they are most likely to come again. Invite them to church, and offer to share a meal with them afterward. I actually did this just two weeks ago. I got turned down for church, but we're still eating together, so I'm going to call that a win!
I am praying for 10 families to come to our church from the Community Cookout. Wouldn't it be amazing to have to pull out more chairs on Sunday?!
SONGS FOR SUNDAY
You are Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul6i6Kz2p2k
Always so Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5_ljVCH39c
Good Good Father
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jz5dPQZYyE
The Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ55mDL7dA0
...and we are learning
Risen