I wasn’t trying to suggest that the church building will never be useful. I am glad some people are willing to come to the events at the building. As far as the Nativity Movie being shown, a rented theatere is not the church building. It is a nuetral place.

As far as I was suggesting, showing the movie in a home with a small group of invited people is also a much more ideal environment for generating open and honest conversation. There is plenty of research out there on this to suggest why the small group environment is more effective than a large crowd. But in the end if people will come to a large crowd environment and hear about Jesus, the praise be to God.

Unfortunately, as some have said above, the “gospel meeting” moniker is pretty inaccurate, as the sermons are almost always aimed at people who are already Christians. Sometimes they are the old instrumental-music-is-wrong type sermons, and sometimes they are more practical encouraging sermons, but rarely are they Christ-is-the-one-true-Savior type sermons, which can be really frustrating. Nevertheless, a lot of us proudly attend as much as we can, trying to make the best of an imperfect situation.

But, that Wed. night in 1973, Gary scared two of my best buds right out of the aisle and to the front (only one row away). I was scared and excited - and wanted to take that step or two during the 19th verse of Just As I am….but I didn’t. However, my dad baptized me the next night, a Thursday, the night Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the great tennis match.

Sounds like a great idea for your conversation group. May the Lord Bless your group.

Why not in a “church” buidling? Our inviter events in the Church building bring over a 100 unchurched each event. We find it to be an non-threatening way for our members to reach out to their friends and family.
For the Nativity Story we rented a theater( bought all the tickets to a showing).

Showing movies like “The Passion of Christ” or “The Nativity Story” would probably be a good way to begin conversations with people who do not follow Jesus. BUT NOT in a church building. Most non-churched people are not interested in “coming to church.” Start a home movie club.

Tonight will be the start of something similar. There will be a group of about 12 people showing up to our home, 3 of which do not confess Jesus as Lord. We are going to being reading “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller and let this book lead us into a discussion on what it means to live out the Christian faith (I am praying that it will also challenge some of us Christians too). We are calling the group “Beginning Conversations.” This is an attempt to let Jesus be known outside of the church building and in a home that sits in an everyday neighberhood. I pray that this is just the beginning.

Whatever happened to seeker services? Were they pretty much a bomb for the same reasons the gospel meetings would be these days?

We had a Phil Keaggy concert last week, and a young man who came was baptized on Sunday. He was a seeker who was touched by the music. Maybe more of these kinds of meetings would be good. I love Jim’s Starbucks idea. I would attend.