Loading...Andrew Weeks, an Episcopal evangelist with a magnetic lay ministry, shared his expertise and enthusiasm with priests and lay leaders from across the Diocese of Kentucky March 13 and 14, but not for the reasons some may have come to the “Magnetic Church Conference.”
Brought to Louisville by the Diocese of Kentucky, Weeks began the two-day conference making it clear that he was not there to teach them how to “grow” their churches. “Being a Christian is being a part of a community, and I don’t want to be a part of someone not being a person of faith because we have not done our part,” he said.
Urging his audience to avoid the “vampire trap” (a mentality best summed up in the familiar statement, “we need new blood in this church,”), Weeks said such a focus is problematic because it is “concerned with what the church needs and not what the world needs.” People are facing such challenges in their lives that they are in “bondage” to their problems and are hungering for community and a message of love, needs that our churches can fulfill, he advised. Our congregations’ mission fields need not be some distant place, but can be the sidewalk in front of our churches, he said.
“Are you trying to fill empty lives or to fill empty pews?,” he asked. “If you are trying to fill empty lives, you’ll have full pews.” The size and amount of resources of a church do not matter; the congregation’s attitude and understanding of who they are does, he said.
The conference, held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Louisville, brought about 70 participants representing 19 congregations from Paducah to Louisville as well as a participant from Springfield, Missouri, and another from Perth, Australia.
Over the 10 hours of presentations by Weeks, the participants learned that evangelism is not about proselytizing and converting. Instead, it is about intentional structures and practices that make our churches accessible and inviting such as designing and upgrading church grounds and spaces; developing a “magnetic” team of greeters; and effectively utilizing various internal and external media (including church bulletins, bulletin boards, welcome brochures, web sites and news letters) to communicate the church’s message and story.
Evangelism, he said, will succeed if a congregation is focused on the process and not the end product; if it works from its strengths and celebrates what is working; and if it depends less on the clergy to accomplish its ends (A church, he said, should become a “seminary for lay persons” or like a travel agency in which the clergy are the travel agents and not the tour guides.)
Before concluding the conference, Weeks challenged those present to become “full-time evangelists.” Although he joked they could have the rest of the weekend off, he urged them to get to work quickly. “Go paint something … change something. … Pick a priority for immediate action. What it is, isn’t important. That you get into it this week is important.”
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