What Makes People Choose St. Mark’s

Every day I think about how it might be for people who have never been in church, or haven’t been there for a long time, to come to church or even to an activity at church. What is that like–to take the risk to look up the times for worship, visit the website, and make your way to St. Mark’s on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night?

What makes people choose St. Mark’s? Some come because of the “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” sign on the building. Some come because of something they see on our corner sign.  Most come, though, because they know someone at St. Mark’s and perhaps one of you has even invited them to come.

Most people come because they have had experiences with you. Very often they’ve met you at work, at the gym, at the restaurant, at the golf course, or at someone’s house at a party or other gathering. They take the risk to come to St. Mark’s because of the way you’ve acted with others, or how you listened to them, or the way you’ve talked about your church. In other words, the way you show your faith in daily life makes a difference.

There are so-called Christians who drive people away from church by the way they act at work and in other aspects of life. Today many people think of Christians as intolerant, judgmental and hypocritical–saying and doing one thing on Sundays and acting differently in daily life.

It seems to me that the way we are in daily life is an expression of our Christian faith. Also, our work –our daily lives–can strengthen our faith or weaken it. In worship, over the next few weeks we’re going to talk about Connecting our Lives to God…Our Work and Our Faith. I’m thinking about “work” as the way we spend our time whether it’s paid work, volunteering, caring for children or a loved one, or… I think you get the idea. Beginning on Oct. 14 we’ll be seeing videos of people from our church in various professions, and ways their faith strengthens and challenges them.

October 7 is World Communion Sunday, when Christians around the world gather at Christ’s table.  As we start the new series and celebrate Communion, it’s a good time to say to someone around you, “Would you like to join me at church?” You might also invite them and their pet to the “Blessing of the Animals” on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 4:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall.

Blessings, Sharon