Come To The Banquet

The heavenly Zion Church recently held a Sunday morning banquet that was inspired by the parable in Matthew about the banquet. Each member of the church agreed that they would invite someone new to come with them the following Sunday. The church would prepare a banquet to serve the new guests following the morning service. I was quite pleased to see that on the morning of the banquet there were between 12 and 15 new people at church.Some of those were children but eight or nine were adults. The service began with music. And then there was some more music. What impressed me was that the words for several of the songs were projected on a screen so that everyone could join in singing. The singing was followed by a game/illustration about salvation. Included in the morning's activities were several videos presenting different aspects of salvation. Towards the end of the service the visitors were introduced by name and given the opportunity to receive Christ as savior.(There seems to have been some positive response to the invitation with at least one or two perhaps making a firm commitment to Christ.) The service was followed by a meal and fellowship time.

As I witnessed this whole thing I thought to myself that some of this would never fly in the US culture. Everything was done wrong if you were wanting to make visitors feels at home. They were all "invited" to sit on the front row. They were all "invited" to join in the game while everyone else watched. Following the videos the visitors were asked to respond to some very tough questions about what they had just seen. Then having to introduce themselves and say something would be enough to make any half-hearted visitor flee through the nearest exit. But the amazing thing is that no one bolted. They took all the abuse that the church could hurl at them.They stayed for dinner, accepted some prizes from the church (a tub of butter, a sack of rice, some other food item), visited with people and some of them were back yesterday.

Please pray for those who came and for those who returned. Pray that those who made a beginning with Christ will carry through and allow him to begin to mold and transform their lives. Pray for the church as it seeks to fully incorporate these invited folks, and others, into the local body of Christ.

Are you missing having pictures with the posts? I am. Sorry to say my camera is in the hospital and pronounced terminal. I have a new camera waiting for me in the States. I should be able to have it by sometime in October. So until then the blog will basically be pictureless.