The L10 Neighborhood Project: The Future is Knocking

The stories of how our church got started are by now heralded as revered history.  In the mid-1980’s Pastor Jim Panos, walked throughout the neighborhoods of Lawrenceville, knocking on doors and generating interest in starting a new Lutheran church. He knocked on literally thousands of doors.   He wore out at least one pair of shoes doing so. Pastor Panos’s focus and commitment resulted in the church we have today.

In the twenty-five years since that time Amazing Grace has not needed to go out and knock on peoples’ doors.  People have just found us somehow and joined.  Most of our new members moved to the area from somewhere else, a large percentage of that group were raisedLutheran.  Over the years, our neighborhood has changed.  We know from demographic data that our new neighbors are not Lutheran households, less than 1% of the homes within a three mile radius claim to be “Lutheran”. Many of these families don’t automatically seek a church upon moving to Gwinnett.

We’ve had to learn a difficult lesson, that Gwinnett isn’t the same place it was in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  As a result, recently we’ve been intentional in making our church moreapproachable, with a new website and sign.  Last winter, we discussed something called the L10 Project, where we would follow Luke chapter 10, where Jesus instructs his followers to go out two-by-two announcing the Good News going from village to village.  This month, we will do exactly that—knock on some doors, meet our neighbors, looking for people who don’t have a church.

Pastors who are specially called and trained to start churches are called “mission developers”.  If you put a group of mission developers in one room, you will get a mixed opinion on the question of knocking on doors.  Some argue that it is no longer effective, that people don’t like to be bothered at home, they argue knocking on doors is not an efficient method of evangelism (evangelism means “sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ”).  Others will admit that though it is time consuming, there are few other ways to engage people one-on-one to talk about life and faith.

One mission developer is Pastor Bill Funk. He and his wife Helen have established two successful mission-start churches. Now retired, the Funks volunteer in assisting congregations in reaching out to their neighborhood going door-to-door.  They have a proven method.  I’ve known the Funks for years and  I’ve knocked on doors with them for other area mission churches.  They were delighted to be asked to come to Amazing Grace.  The Funks were featured on our national churches blog, “Living Lutheran”. You can read more about The Funks and their ministry here: http://www.livinglutheran.com/seeds/volunteer-evangelism-initial-calling-and-follow-up.html

Why are we doing this?  Because there are people out there who want to experience the grace of God, who are open to following Jesus, but haven’t had the opportunity to be invited.  Amazing Grace is a unique church, and there is no reason why we shouldn’t have more people in our sanctuary on Sunday morning.  They just need to be found.  It’s time to widen our circle, and this is a personable and inexpensive way to do so.

There are a few ways you can help with this effort.

1) Get out and Knock with Us:  You can join us on the evening of Monday,  August 29^th , where you will receive     orientation and then go out two-by-two to  invite people to come to church.

2) Pray:  A prayer vigil will be held while we are going out.  Those who might not have the gifts or temperament for knocking on doors can support the effort through prayer in our sanctuary.

3) Welcome: If you see someone you don’t recognize at Sunday worship, take a moment to welcome them and thank them for joining us.  It takes a degree of courage to check out a new church.   A simple “hello” goes a long way toward    making a person feel at home with us.  Our congregation is pretty good at being welcoming and we need to continue this good practice.

I am excited to see what God has in store for us in this L10 Neighborhood project.  There are some genuine opportunities before us.  God has a habit of blessing efforts shaped and inspired by Biblical principles.  There are new people to meet, we will discover lives that God has already touched, and there will be opportunities to highlight God’s Amazing Grace.  It all starts with a simple knock on the door.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jason Talsness