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 | | Teens Corner at the Open House held at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Vancouver. |
AN ‘open house’ project launched by the
Lutheran Church of Canada helped many congregations meet their neighbours.
The nationwide project encouraged churches to invite people to open
houses on the last weekend of September. Most congregations reported the
effort helped them make connections with new people.
Keith Reisdorf, senior pastor of First Lutheran Church
in Kelowna, said that knowing the national church was involved in the same
process “gave us more of an incentive to get it done.”
The church has ‘friendship Sundays’ twice a
year, often getting 30 – 40 visitors. However, Reisdorf said this was
“the most successful” of the outreaches, with some 70 visitors
swelling the usual number of just over 300. The majority came as a result
of personal invitations by members.
Mark Chiang is pastor of the Prince of Peace and
Killarney Park churches in Vancouver. He said his congregations did not
expend as much effort as some other churches, and so did have as large a
result. The churches sent out 500 – 600 invitations and offered a
free car wash on Saturday. Three families came for the open house on
Sunday.
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Chiang said he had not expected a huge turnout and was
not disappointed. The event “raised the visibility of the
church” and generated some contacts for follow-up.
He said today’s culture resists advances since
people wonder what the church really wants. Overcoming this climate of
distrust “can only be done with time and regular connections.”
The open house followed a “block party’ the church had hosted
for its neighbours in July.
Chiang was grateful for resources the national church
provided for the event. “The denomination tried to make this as easy
for us as possible.”
Given the tendency for congregations to work in
isolation, Chiang said, “For a whole denomination to do things
together is always a good thing.”
– Jim Coggins
November 2007
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