Welcome back to church - Baptist Times

A MAJOR evangelistic initiative is to be offered to Baptist churches this year by the Baptist Union of Great Britain's mission department in partnership with The Baptist Times.

Back to Church Sunday, which was piloted in the Diocese of Manchester in 2004 and has seen increasing support since then, aims to encourage members to contact former churchgoers who may not have attended for many years and invite them to a special service.

Churches are encouraged to go through a period of study and self-evaluation based on home-group material, and members are given printed invitations to pass on to their friends and neighbours. Visitors are offered a welcome pack when they arrive which gives them more information about the church, the Gospel and the Christian faith.

Back to Church Sunday is to be held this year on September 28.

The North Western Baptist Association (NWBA) ran the event last year with results described by regional minister the Revd Phil Jump as 'remarkable'. On average, the churches which took part saw an extra 12 visitors in their congregation.

'In some churches people were surprised when visitors turned up,' said Mr Jump.

Many churches gave Back to Church Sunday favourable verdicts in a post-event survey. According to Goodshaw Baptist Church, 'The preparations brought the fellowship closer and in issuing invitations no-one was rebuffed, dismissing the fear factor.'

For Atherton Baptist Church, 'It fell on our Harvest Sunday which made it an excellent combination. It has also provoked much thought in the church regarding mission.'

The programme, Mr Jump said, was ideally suited for congregational outreach. 'It's not about making such a special effort that you can't repeat it. It's about doing our best, not doing something that we aren't capable of week by week.

'This is doing mission in a way that stretches people but doesn't overwhelm them; it needs people to have confidence in what they are doing already.'

Since its launch in 2004, more Anglican churches have begun to take part, with 2,000 congregations involved last year. But the Baptist initiative is the first to involve a whole denomination, and is regarded by BUGB mission department head the Revd Ian Bunce as a significant opportunity.

'I would love to encourage every Baptist church to look at this,' he said. 'It is a great opportunity to focus our churches' minds on inviting people in.

'This is not about being clever, or knowing all the right words. It's about being able to pray and think about who we can invite to meet the family, and meet the Saviour. And it will give churches the opportunity to review what they do, in light of how visitor-friendly they are.'

He referred to a Church of England report, Mission Shaped Church, which established that around 20 per cent of non-churchgoers would be open to an invitation to return. 'As the baby-boomer generation reaches retirement, they want to return to their roots,' he said, adding that they did not necessarily want an entirely new experience of church. 'Look at the revival of cathedrals and the increase in numbers at traditional churches - people are looking for something they feel safe in, but they want a living tradition, not a dead one.'

The day would work best, he said, if churches did not attempt to put on a special performance. 'Churches should be themselves, but be themselves and do it well, and invest in real relationships. It has to be more than a performance; when we invite people back to church, we invite them into a community.'

Details of the campaign are still being worked on, but it is hoped that regional Associations will be able to promote it widely in their areas. A significant impetus will come from a special free edition of The Baptist Times on May 1, offered to all churches in the Union and containing resources, testimonies, case studies and practical suggestions. In the meantime information will be made available to churches through BUGB emails, the Spring edition of its magazine Transform, and the BUGB website.