Every parish in the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn is being encouraged to take part in Back to Church Sunday this year, on August 29. Because the scheduled date for the event throughout Australia (September 12) clashes with the diocesan synod meeting, this diocese has elected to hold the invitation day a fortnight earlier. The theme for this year’s event will be Come as you are.
Back to Church Sunday (BTCS) is a very simple but effective way of growing the church by asking each member of the congregation to invite a friend along on a specific Sunday. Most parishes and ministry units in the region tried the concept last year and most were very encouraged by the results. However, the experience has shown the importance of training a team of leaders in each ministry unit, and preparing thoroughly for the occasion. A series of training days across the diocese over recent weeks has helped parishes start planning for the day.
A key component of the training and preparation for BTCS is to develop a welcoming atmosphere at worship services. This was made clear at a seminar in Canberra earlier this year when Michael Harvey, one of the pioneers who developed the BTCS concept in the UK seven years ago, outlined some vital steps in planning for the event. He explained that visitors to a church service will frequently have a very different experience to that of the regular worshippers. “We think of ourselves as being welcoming, but we don’t realise how unwelcoming we actually are,” he said, stressing that BTCS was “all about the people who aren’t here”.
