After church Sunday, a visitor came up to me. She turned out to be Candace Rogers' aunt, visiting from Tampa. She was really happy to tell me something. She said she was glad she came, and that she had recently just started going to church after many years of not going.




“What got you back?” I asked.




She said, “well a new church was starting in her neighborhood. Most of the people are young, but there are a few older people like me there.”

As we talked some more it was apparent she wanted a really fresh start. She wanted to get in on the ground floor, there is some excitement there, but maybe also a chance to just start over in the same way that everyone that goes there is brand new.


She has been going 5 Sundays now, starting with their very first service.


We often talk about starting new churches to reach new people-- that new churches are the best form of evangelism we have. I was forced to add to that, new churches are a great way to reach people who have left the church for whatever reason. It's hard to come back. Maybe we felt burned, maybe we just drifted out and are too self-conscious to come back...but a new church. Wow, we all get to start the story all over again.


I wonder, though.. could existing churches think about doing such new things even in the context of who they are and what they already do, to have totally new things happen in people who are looking to come to church?