Congregations consider plans
for Lenten outreach effort
By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
While many Southwest Texas congregations haven’t made specific plans for Bring a Friend Sunday next month, they are preparing to take part in the annual event.
The Rev. Warren G. Hornung, senior pastor of First UMC, Kerrville, said his 2,427-member congregation generally joins the effort every year, though leaders have yet to solidify this year’s plans.
“This program works well for us,” Hornung said. “It’s kind of like Home for Christmas. It’s tried and true and tested. Bring a Friend Sunday is fantastic. It’s easy.”
Bring a Friend Sunday is the Lenten version of Home for Christmas and encourages churches to focus on reaching new people for Christ by using a special hospitality Sunday during the Lent season. The suggested date is March 25 this year.
Hornung said his church usually “goes by the book” for the promotional event. This year they’ll publicize the Sunday using the church bulletin, the church newsletter and probably an ad in the local paper.
For mailings, he added, they’ll be using their Home for Christmas visitor list.
Hornung said he didn’t know the exact percentage of people who visit again after being invited during the Bring a Friend Sunday campaign, but he has noticed a difference.
Utopia UMC is joining in the Bring-a-Friend Sunday effort and urging members through the church newsletter and worship bulletin to invite and bring a friend who does not normally attend their church.
The write-ups encourage members to invite their friends back for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.
The Bring a Friend Sunday campaign is recommended for the Sunday before Palm Sunday, but churches are given the freedom to mark any Sunday Bring a Friend Sunday. Members ask friends and relatives who don’t normally attend a church to join them for a special morning worship service and a fellowship meal.
Members then invite their friends to return for Palm Sunday and the Easter celebration.
Studies have shown that 70 to 90 percent of people who join churches have friends already attending and that getting individuals to show up in a service for the first time is the most difficult step.
The Rev. Margaret Decker, pastor of First UMC, Sinton, said her congregation has been focusing on welcoming new people for a while now. The church is certified as a welcoming congregation and has been working with the Rev. Don Nations as part of the Corpus Christi District church transformation project.
“We’re invested in this,” Decker said. “We want to let people know about us. And what that’s doing for our church is it’s changing our focus.”
The Sinton church has been involved in the Bring a Friend Sunday on and off over the years, Decker said. It did it last year and plans to do it again this year.
But leaders just haven’t “firmed up the plans,” she added.
Sallie Sassano, director of hospitality for St. John’s UMC, Austin, said her congregation focuses on bringing friends every Sunday.
“We do not have any special things going on (for Bring a Friend Sunday),” she said. “We actively try to welcome our people as they come in.”
Sassano said her church’s lay leader recently delivered a sermon about the importance of checking up on the people who used to come to church but haven’t been in a while.
“A big push is being made to do that,” Sassano said.
