Bethany Lutheran Church - Ishpeming Michigan

Pastor's Reflections

It won’t be long now before our TV6 ads begin appearing. There’s no way of knowing for sure what effect these ads will have but there are a couple of things that I am pretty sure will happen. First of all, people will see them. Second of all, at some point someone will ask you about them or will mention that they have seen them. Therein lies one of the key pieces of this evangelism effort. What will you say? This will be an opportunity to talk about the church, an opening for conversation, but each of us will have to be ready and not let the moment slip away.

My guess is that all of us have had the experience of talking with someone and after the fact realizing, “I could have mentioned the church; it would have fit into the conversation. I could have invited them to church.” But, because we hadn’t thought about it in advance, it didn’t happen, and the opportunity passed.

Every member and friend of Bethany needs to be ready with a response. It’s not the same for everyone, but think about what it is that you appreciate about Bethany. Why did you start worshiping here? Why do you keep worshiping here? What is it that makes Bethany special for you? What is it that we do well? What you say doesn’t have to answer all those questions; it doesn’t have to be anything heavy and theological (although it could be); it just has to be sincere and should include a simple invitation. The key is to think about it so you’re ready to respond.

Collectively, we then have to be ready to walk the walk and welcome people (without smothering them). I’m told that Bethany had a reputation for being kind of stuffy but I think that has changed; I’ve had many people tell me how welcome they’ve been made to feel. Still, it’s something everyone should be conscious of. Church is a social place and everyone has those they look forward to seeing and talking with. But if you see someone you don’t know standing alone, speak to them. If it turns out to be someone who has been a member longer than you have, so be it.

However this plays out it will be an interesting process for our church to engage. It’s a chance to think about who we are. This will be the agenda for the first few sessions of Bible Study this fall as well. We’ll look at the topic of evangelism and what the Bible has to say about it as well as thinking about how each of us can be part of the process. The Monday morning 11am group will start on September 13th and the Thursday evening 6:30pm group on September 16th. This is a great opportunity for new people to become part of one of the Bible studies as this is something that involves all of us.

There is a stereotypical image of the church as being judgmental and out of touch, overly moralistic, only concerned about a few hot button issues, a place where you should turn your brain off before you walk in. I don’t think that’s an accurate picture of the church and I certainly don’t think it’s who we are at Bethany. I look forward to an opportunity to change the stereotype.

Pastor Geier