One of the interesting questions that has come out of our Growing the Family of Faith campaign is one that's difficult to nail down, but can be answered by thinking about trends in the life of the church. In the life of any congregation there are times when, for various reasons, people come and go. When Lorice and I were in Florida for my ordination last September, we both remarked that we didn't know most of the people at worship after being gone for 4+ years. Folks who return for a visit to Faith will likely feel the same way over time. You may recall that a few months ago we welcomed 14 families into the community of Faith Lutheran Church. In past months we've also seen some folks leave for various reasons ranging from relocation for jobs to marriage to disagreement over the direction of the congregation. These things are perfectly normal and should be expected in the life of the church. The great news is that we have had more folks join than we've had leave, and that's a trend toward growth and we've only just begun to act publicly to build awareness of our congregation in our community!
This brings me to another great question raised during one of our volunteer visits recently. Your Witness Ministry Team has been hard at work over the past few months to get the word out about Faith while thinking about how to minister to folks who are already members. Our website has been getting a LOT of notice since its launch last September. Since then the website has had well over 9,000 visitors! If you do the math, that's roughly 1,000 visitors per month! Our Podcast of weekly sermons are listened to all over the world (we've received e-mails that tell us so!), and our communication to the community and to church members has been vastly enhanced. We've developed a new logo and the tag line "Nurturing Faith" to send an important message to visitors and members alike. But wait, we've also added banners, various intentional "invite the community" activities (the latest is our bulletin board campaign to plaster the community with business card sized awareness builder messages), and the Witness Team will be at Marion Square Park Thursdays during July to give away popcorn and popsicles while promoting Faith Lutheran Church during the big band music in the park events. And we've only just begun.
Our community is growing around us, I can't wait to see the 2010 Census to see how much over the past few years. We are poised for expanding our ministry and for strengthening the ministry we are known for, a ministry of nurture for children, youth, and families. Trending toward growth means planning for our future as well as a consistent attitude of sharing who we are and inviting others to join us, as well as intentionally planning and visioning for our future ministry. Each member will be responsible for helping us get the word out, for inviting others, and for welcoming them once they are here. My prayer is that God will work through each of us to bring about some amazing things for the sake of the Good News of Jesus Christ. We need your help to Grow the Family of Faith.