Today was a beautiful day, being the 2nd of Feb it was at least 65 degrees. Sunny, and hardly a cloud in the sky. The concrete driveway we were supposed to pour this week had to be postponed, it was too muddy from the last two day's rain, so we were off work today. I decided several days ago that if I we were rained out this week, I would do some old fashioned door knocking near the area where we meet on Sunday mornings. I've been on several door knocking campaigns in college for meetings we were involved in, but today was totally different.
I prayerfully walked through the neighborhood where we meet. I thought it was more than appropriate to reach out to the people closest to where we worship. It was invigorating! I felt very refreshed going from door to door passing out our church business cards. I simply introduced myself, and mentioned we were a new congregation and we wanted to let the folks in the neighborhood know about us. I said if they didn't have a church family, we'd love to see them Sunday morning at 10. That was pretty much it. I shook hands, thanked people for their time, and didn't stay unless they initiated a conversation.
Some people were short with me, barley opening their doors wide enough for me to slide a card into them. Other people rustled around inside some, peering out a blind, and then not opening up... I wondered to myself if I looked like a Cop or a salesman in their eyes?
A few people, even some young families, mentioned they were new to the area and were looking for a church. I was encouraged by their receptivity as they said they'd be by some Sunday to check us out.
I ran into "Jack", you know who I mean if you live in Kingsport. He's the most famous homeless person in the area. We had a great talk. He said he hadn't seen me in a while and was thinking about me and wondered how I've been doing. I invited him and he said he would be there some time.
I had one man invite me onto his porch and ask me to keep him in my prayers. Oh, one final one I need to share with you. I knocked on one door, and the young man who opened the door asked kind of gruffly, "Who you look'n for?" I told him what I was about, and I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing him some Sunday soon.
When Tammy came home from subbing at the Middle School and we caught up on our day, she said something about how I looked pretty happy. I really felt happy. It was good connecting with people that I simply would not have met in any other way than going to their home; in about two & 1/2 hours I was able to invite people in about 50 homes to worship with us. I felt refreshed in the work I feel God has called me to, and I was excited once more about the new work we are involved with.
Now I know there are much better ways of sharing the good news, more personal and meaningful. And, I know in our day & age people supposedly don't like to be bothered. People don't like strangers showing up, unannounced and uninvited to talk to them about personal and private things like faith. As true as that might be, I was received warmly too many times today to say that everybody feels that way. I'm hopeful my respectful and relaxed attitude helps to plant & water a few seeds here and there. And yes, I'm anxiously looking forward to knocking a few more doors downtown asap...
No comments:
Post a Comment