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	November 29, 2004 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 83

	Outreach, caring attitude increase worship attendance, say
'Igniting' participants

	By Paula Schlueter Ross

	KATY, Texas -- On a typical Sunday, 850 to 1,000 people worship
at CrossPoint Community Church here, a congregation of The Lutheran
Church--Missouri Synod. Only about 600 of them are members.

	But that's OK with Pastor Bill Woolsey, who says the
congregation's goal is "to be a magnetic community church" that attracts
all people -- not just Lutherans.

	"It's exciting to us to have more people on Sunday morning who
are determining, trying to understand, what God is doing in their
lives," said Woolsey. "They know they need something, they've heard this
is a community place, it's Christian, it's very conservative in what it
teaches, but it's very expressive and modern in its feel."

	CrossPoint, which has grown from just 40 worshipers as a new
mission in 1997, hosted the latest "One Mission Ablaze: Igniting
Congregations" event Nov. 12-13.

	The conference, the sixth "Igniting" event sponsored by the LCMS
president's office in the past year, focused on newly planted
congregations that have seen significant growth in worship attendance
over the past decade. Attendees included a pastor-lay person team from
each of the Missouri Synod congregations that top the category -- 18
congregations from 13 districts were represented.

	Like the previous "Igniting" gatherings, participants were asked
to set new goals for increased worship attendance in their own
congregations; share their expertise with the church-at-large; and join
with other "Igniting" congregations to plan ways to further those first
two objectives.

	"In order for a fire to spread, it has to start," Synod
President Gerald Kieschnick told the group, and he encouraged them to
share their knowledge with other congregations "so that the flame of
Christ's love will be spread" worldwide.

	Participants shared ideas for what works, and brainstormed how
to increase their worship attendance even more.

	"Everything we do is with outreach in mind," said Dave Rossow,
director of outreach for NewLife Community Lutheran Church in Swartz
Creek, Mich.

	For example, when the film "The Passion of the Christ" was
showing in area theaters, NewLife families were asked to purchase extra
tickets and give them to their unchurched friends. The event was so
successful that only two of nearly 400 available seats were left
unfilled, Rossow said.

	Get your church's name out in the community, he says, "and then,
when people need a church, they think of you." Rossow works with a local
company to send postcards -- many of them humorous -- to some 5,000 area
homes three or four times a year. One woman, he said, liked a postcard
so much she kept it for three years before she visited NewLife. She's
now a member.

	Ray Murphy, a lay leader at Genesis Lutheran Church in rural
Buchanan Dam, Texas, says visitors "are accepted in such a loving
manner, they don't leave." Genesis began in 1994 with four members --
today the congregation has 200.

	Rev. Eloy Gonzalez, pastor of Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church
in San Antonio, described his congregation as a mix of Anglo, Hispanic
and Black members.

	Worship attendance increases, he said, when congregations care
about people and make them feel welcome.

	"It's got to be heart-to-heart, people-to-people," Gonzalez
said. "It's the Lord convincing people that being in that place is
important to them because they can receive His forgiveness there. And
that people care about them."

	Conference participants agreed that each of their congregations
would use $1,000 in funding from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to
help realize their goals of increasing worship attendance even more. The
remaining $22,000 from Thrivent will be used to fund a training event to
help other LCMS congregations increase their worship attendance.

	****************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

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