We had great services on Sunday, morning and evening, and in
particular the Candlelight Service was really well attended by people who would
never normally come to church. Here’s
what I’ve just written to the church family by way of feedback and
encouragement:
I wanted to say how absolutely blown away I was by the
number of guests who you had invited to the Candlelight service on Sunday
evening. Of those in the two side sections and the balcony two thirds.…that’s
like two out of three people…. were guests!
In the centre section it was less easy to be accurate but we reckoned
just over half were guests. That’s
incredible. And that doesn’t take into
account all those who invited people who never came. I just want to thank you for your
faithfulness and courage.
I remember the first time I heard Bill Hybels, pastor of
Willow Creek Community Church, Chicago, talking about something called they the
Fool’s Bench; it really impacted me then and it continues to move me as I think
of your commitment to inviting people to guest services LBC like the ones we
had this Sunday. Allow me to quote at
length from Bill’s book, Just Walk Across the Room:
“At my church we refer to the lobby benches just outside of
the auditorium as the ‘Fool's Bench.’
Every weekend, at least a handful of Willow members sit out there
waiting for people to show up. They can be anyone - a boss, a friend, a family
member, you name it. But in every case, they've prayed for these people and
taken walks across rooms for these people, hoping beyond hope to have a little
spiritual impact in their lives. So
someone in our congregation finally musters the courage to invite his friends
to church and is stunned when the person says yes. They're actually going to
come! The Willow person thinks. Sunday finally comes and he stands out there in
the lobby, anxiously awaiting his friend's arrival. A few minutes pass, and the pacing
begins. Back and forth. Back and forth.
The futile pacing leads to fervent praying. “Oh God, please prompt this person
to show up. Come on, God!” Fifteen
minutes elapse, and he realizes that no one is coming. But he can't bring himself to give up just
yet. So he decides to have a seat - just wait five more minutes, maybe. On a lobby bench. On the Fool's Bench,
waiting for someone who agreed to come but who is clearly not going to show up.
He looks over and sees another Willow person pacing. “So who are you waiting
for?” He ventures.
“Well, my boss,” she sighs. 'I've worked on him for six
years. And finally, this weekend he said
he'd come.”
“Ah, just another fool like me,” the Willow guy thinks.
After a weekend service one time I was shaking hands and was
approached by a young man who was sobbing uncontrollably. He finally formed a
few sentences and conveyed that he'd only asked for one thing for his birthday-
that his dad would come to church with him. His dad had agreed to come, so the
kid sat out there on the lobby benches for the entire service. You can guess the rest of the story, and this
kid's lament said it all, “Man this is hard.” You know what? [writes Hybels] It is hard.
Maybe this is why Paul encourages doing the “work of evangelism”. It is work, and hard work at that. You pour your heart out there. You offer grace and acceptance and love to
people. You sow seeds, you make the phone calls. You extend the hand of
friendship. You pick up the phone in the middle of the night. And at the end of
the day, you just feel like you've been ripped to shreds. But somehow you hang
in there, determined to keep sowing seed. Sure you may be a fool, but you are a
special kind of fool.”
The Apostle Paul described himself as a fool for Christ (1
Cor.4:10), he did seemingly ridiculous things in the cause of making Jesus
known. If you feel foolish for having
invited someone who never came, if you paced around in our Fool’s Foyer, then
you’re in good company. May you know the
pleasure of your Father in heaven as you’ve sought to share his love with
others. And may we all keep praying
that the Word God spoke over the Christmas season would take root and bear
fruit.
