Summertime is upon us and so we are starting to see a bit of a drop off in attendance at LICL.
None of this is a surprise. Several folks came by the office yesterday to let me know that they would be gone for a few weeks and not to be worried by their absence. And it seems like we already have a number of families who are off visiting family or taking dream vacations or just looking to escape our typical summer heat.
What is interesting is the number of visitors we seem to get during the summer. Two more families came to worship with us for the first time yesterday. I didn't get the chance to visit very much with either one but one of the families told our greeters that they would be back to visit again. That was exciting news!
I also had the chance to connect a face with a name. For some time now one of our members and I have been praying for a lady who is battling cancer. Yesterday, our member brought her friend with her to church. The friend asked about being baptized and how she could learn more about our church. For our member, it was an answer to prayer. So I'll be making a follow up call tomorrow. Praise the Lord for this opportunity.
Sometimes people ask how it is that Life in Christ has grown to almost 600 baptized members. It's not much of a secret. We haven't employed any ground breaking church growth ideas. We don't have the biggest staff or the largest facility. We're not awash in all kinds of programs.
We have God's Word and Sacraments and we have lots of friendly people. God's Means of Grace (Word, Baptism & Lord's Supper) offers forgiveness and gives peace and hope. In these troubling times, peace of heart and mind and hope for today and tomorrow are what people are seeking. And people are looking for acceptance. They seek a place where connections can be made and relationships can be built. The Gospel and friendly people are what many find at Life in Christ.
And that enables us to make new friends.
