Chuck Bridges Blog

Yesterday we Unveiled a major part of our strategy to insure that Washington Avenue Church is focused on reaching people with the message of Salvation through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! This is the primary reason why the church even exists. And, though we say this is our desire, in reality, most of our meeting times, formats, styles, etc. are designed for those who already have a personal relationship with Christ. If we are going to be bold enough to publicly pronounce our desire to reach out to people who do not know Christ then we need to demonstrate this desire by planning creative ways to “attract” those who have no HOPE of anything beyond this life.

Our Simple Strategy (with a major emphasis on SIMPLE) for leading the believers at Washington Avenue to ‘Change our World’ for Christ is called e3 — ENGAGE — EQUIP — EXTEND.

In our service yesterday we shared about the first section of this strategy which is ENGAGE. It is our desire to do “Whatever it takes…” to ENGAGE as many people as possible with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. We have examined the attendance habits of those who decide to visit a church and discovered that, here in the South, people still choose Sunday morning as their time to ‘check out’ a church.

Because of this, we are changing our Sunday morning schedule beginning January 6, 2008. On that day we will start having 2 worship services on Sunday mornings at 9:00 and 10:30. We will also be moving our services from the large sanctuary to the Youth Zone (i.e. former chapel). This room has been recently rennovated and will better suit the needs of our present congregation as well as provide room for growth. This room will also create a more intimate atmosphere that will help the people we are seeking feel more at home! We will provide a gathering area with coffee and snacks in the glass corridor at the front of our campus. This will make a great place for people to hang out before, after and in between the two services.

Each Sunday we will strive for Excellence as we make Sunday mornings at 9:00 and 10:30 our “MAIN EVENT” for reaching those who need Jesus Christ. We want everyone to invite people each week to come to the MAIN EVENT with the confidence that we will be ready and that God will change people’s lives!!!