Jay Passavant

In looking back over the past ten days I've been reflecting on Easter weekend and the amazing response we had all over our North Way community. There were 5,000 people involved , it was an incredible weekend in many ways with scores of decisions for Christ that only time and eternity will fully reveal.

On the other hand, I am equally struck by the fact that the following weekend attendance across the campuses was right back to where it had been a few weeks ago. (In our case nearly a 40% drop from Easter weekend!)

Statistics aren't really important, and I only add them here to give a sense of perspective, but what matters is the question "What keeps people from experiencing something so compelling when they do visit our community worship that they can't resist the idea of returning once again?"

I know there's the simple answer which has to do with "They weren't really there for the right reasons" in the first place. However, most of us would believe that if they came to our church at least one time, they would be so impacted that they would definitely want to come back and learn what it is that we're experiencing.

Unfortuantely, 30+ years of ministry has not convinced me that this is true. Again and again I come back to the reality that though dynamic worship and teaching experiences are important, it's almost more so for the already convinced than it is for the new person.

The new person seems to need a context in which to talk through their questions and deal with their doubts. They need a safe place where they can come to terms with the real content of what they believe.

I've become more convinced of this in the last years and pray that I'll have some opportunity to influence our church in that direction as we move forward. The ying and yang of such huge attendance fluctuations convinces me that the best way for people to develop as Christ followers is in the context of a small group. That's how we purpose to "free people to follow Jesus."

Blessings,
Dr. Jay