Rally Sunday
On Sunday, September 12th, Ebenezer will be hosting our yearly, “Rally Sunday”. As you know, this Sunday is the kick-off to the church year where many of the church programs such as Sunday School, Youth Group, Confirmation, Bible Study, and various other ministries begin. We’re hoping Rally Sunday will inspire our Ebenezer members and Northwood community to join us in this service and begin a new season of Sunday worship.
Come To Worship and Stay For Fellowship.
It was King David who said, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”” (Psalm 122:1). I pray David’s heart becomes ours as we consider the opportunity to worship our Lord with our Christian brothers and sisters. Sunday School for all ages begins at 9:30 with Worship following at 10:30.
As we come primarily to worship, we also invite you to stay for fellowship. An after service lunch has been planned by the Parish Education Committee. This year, all the food items will be provided and you are asked to bring nothing but yourselves to the meal. For the children and youth, inflatables will be set up outside to bless families with children. Believing there will be newer people attending on Rally Sunday, we are setting up an information table with brochures and materials explaining our church ministries. It is our hope Ebenezer becomes a new church home for many.
Invite Our Friends
In the movie, Field of Dreams there is the famous line, “If you build it they will come.” It worked in the movie, but doesn’t in church functions and outreach. Just because we “build it” and put together a Rally Sunday to get excited about doesn’t mean people will come. This is where we all need to take a part. Together we can become an invitation voice inviting our neighbors and friends to join us in this special service. Let me offer you two numbers given by research polling. 20% of people in our community on any given Sunday are in church that morning and 62% of the people who do not go to church would go to church if a friend or relative invited them. In other words, it’s not: “If you build it they will come”, but “If you invite them they will come”! Thus, we’re calling all our Ebenezer members to make an concerted effort to personally invite a friend, relative, neighbor to this special service. Think of who is new(er) in town who doesn’t have a church home as yet and invite them to Rally Sunday. Or invite an Ebenezer member who has gotten out of the habit of attending church. Make a real effort to make people feel welcomed and wanted as you invite them.
We have mailed invitations, put invitations in the Gleaner, have hung a couple of banners, and have put notices in Facebook all to promote Rally Sunday. However, there is nothing more effective than a friend inviting a friend.
Ask for God’s Blessing
All the effort to “rally” the Ebenezer faithful and invite our community is an empty effort without this being about God and His Gospel. Remember there is a high purpose in this effort. We are inviting people to Ebenezer all to introduce them to the life-changing person of Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Certainly, we’re not making Rally Sunday about filling seats. This is ultimately about inviting our community to Ebenezer so they can be introduced to Christ and grow in faith in Jesus Christ! With this very spiritual goal, a vital need is for all to pray and humbly ask the Lord to protect the day from the enemy and allow His Word and Spirit to fill all things we do. The worship team will lead us in song. I will lead us in a message from God’s Word. We all will reach out in love to each other. Yet, it is the Lord alone who must reach into our hearts and move us to Himself. The Psalmist writes, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) Our human efforts only succeed with divine blessing. So the most vital step we must take is to pray and ask our Lord to come and meet us in this service and show us His Gospel.
Will you join us to make Rally Sunday a success? The plans for this service are pretty much in place as a number of key leaders and volunteers are making it happen. But we need all of our Ebenezer members to take a part. Would you commit to pray for the service asking for God’s abundant blessing and also invite a friend to come with you?
“Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” “Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.” (John 1:45–46)
Pastor Mark
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