The Power of Engage Sundays in Your Community
What you give your time to shows what you value. Worship and preaching occupy most of the time, most Sundays that Christians gather. What if an occasional Sunday throughout the year was used to lift the value of sharing the gospel by going into your community? What if you took prime time to leave the building? All it takes is a little inspiration to create momentum.
At Cold Lake Community Church in Cold Lake, AB, Christianity is not a spectator sport. The church is driven by a vision to deepen connections to God, each other, and the wider community. Nurturing these connections requires everyone—young and old—to participate.
Pastor Mark McMillan leads the church each quarter to hold an Engage Sunday. During these services, the focus turns outward to pray for and show love to the surrounding community. Each Engage Sunday is unique, but they all serve the same overarching purpose – outbound ministry. The Engage service looks a lot different from a typical Sunday gathering at a PAOC church.
On Engage Sunday in October 2020, the pandemic didn't stop the church from creatively blessing their community; church members encouraged the local RCMP detachment and visited Points West, a nearby seniors' home.
"We did a performance for the residents at Points West through the window. We ran speakers in, and our kids did a performance for them. Our kids' ministry had made gifts and cards and distributed them to the residents," Pastor Mark says.
In October 2021, the church held a prayer service for the community, followed by pie deliveries to homes in the neighbourhood. The point of the exercise was two-fold: first, to connect with neighbours and offer a no-strings-attached Thanksgiving gift and, second, to deliberately push congregation members outside their comfort zones.
Some church members felt dismissed or had doors closed in their faces. Other times, people were receptive. For one elderly couple in the neighbourhood, the pie delivery was their first social visit in months, and they enjoyed a porch conversation. Another woman received a pie and quickly closed her door but came to the church later that week to give a $100 donation.
"She said, 'I don't know anyone here, but someone came and knocked on my door and gave me a pie. I was really quick about it and shut the door, but afterwards, it really spoke to my heart. I was touched by it, and I just wanted to come to give a donation to say keep doing stuff like this, because it makes a difference.'"
The Sunday before Easter 2022, the church held another Engage Sunday. This time the service was focused on prayer rather than action. "The Engage Sunday, it's not about just blitzing our community. We wanted to take the time to seek Holy Spirit and ask, 'Who could we invite? Who in my sphere of influence You would have me invite to Good Friday and Easter Sunday?'"
Before leaving that day, each person was offered an Easter service invitation attached to a bag of chocolate eggs to give to someone they knew.
A month later, church members were again equipped to reach out to others and encouraged to seek God's leading. For Mother's Day, women were invited to "receive a flower and pick up two to give away as Holy Spirit leads."
At Cold Lake Community Church, people of all ages are developed to be leaders, challenged to grow in their walk with God, and equipped to participate in God's mission outside the church building. Whether it's knocking on doors in the neighbourhood or expectantly seeking God's direction—the focus is on knowing and sharing the love of God.
Pastor Joachim Chisanga at Claresholm Pentecostal Assembly and his leadership team wanted to raise the value of outbound in a non-traditional way. They desired to get the congregation's attention and put it on the community. So, they decided to follow the example of Cold Lake Community Church and hold an Engage Sunday the weekend before Easter. Claresholm is a very traditional congregation, but they gave this adaptive change a chance under Pastor Joachim's wise leadership.
The congregation was informed two Sundays before the event that the service would be different that Sunday. They would gather for 15 minutes to sing two worship songs, hear a 5-minute reminder of the Great Commission, and then pray. Following prayer, they would go out to deliver 180 Easter bags prepared with chocolate, candy, hand sanitizer, and other items families with children would appreciate. Included was a note saying, "God loves you, and so do we at Claresholm Assembly," as well as an invite to the Easter service.
Those who were unable to walk around town stayed behind to pray. The rest scattered through Claresholm, handing out the Easter bags to neighbours, businesses, and strangers. Once the bags were distributed, they returned to the building for hot drinks and testimonies of the experience. The common reaction was 'surprise' to see churchgoers out of church on a Sunday and gratitude for the kindness. A few accepted the invitation and showed up on Easter Sunday.
They could have done this on a Saturday but chose Sunday on purpose. They wanted to emphasize the sacredness of outbound as equal to worship and preaching.
Pastor Joachim told his congregation, "Thanks to all that participated in the Engage Sunday by leaving the comfort of our church building and sharing the love of Jesus with the people of our community, whom Jesus loves so much." They will repeat this experience a few times in the next 12 months.
How about you? Would you cast a vision to your Board or Pastor's Council to take a Sunday and use it to raise the value of outbound in your congregation – to take prime time on a Sunday to prime the pump of evangelism? The Sunday after Thanksgiving is an opportune time to try this for the first time. It's not too cold for walking and going door to door, and pumpkin pies or apple pies will be in stock at grocery stores. Get the support of your Board and then cast vision with your congregation three weeks before the engage Sunday. Ensure people who are not mobile can stay and pray and get ready to welcome those who go out as they return.
Give Mark McMillan (780.594.5542) or Joachim Chisanga (403.625.3008) a call to get details on how you can create your Engage Sunday.
Bob Jones is the founder of REVwords.com, an author, blogger, and coach with 39 years of pastoral experience. Bob is also an Advance Coach with the ABNWT Resource Centre. You can connect with Bob here.