Grace San Jose: Your important part for the next four weeks

[Andrew Field]

San Jose Team,

Sunday night was another good evening of worship. I'm very thankful for the countless hours of prayer and preparation. We're doing a good job of follow up: we've contacted every new visitor and invited them to meet. Several visitors came back for a second time, which is a really healthy sign.

All along, we've committed to launching a site that reaches new people and not just a site of convenience. 

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Psalm 96:3
I will build my church. Matthew 16:18

We've prayed through the ways that our community can remove barriers that prevent people from meeting Jesus. This new site removes the barrier of distance; the people that weren't likely to attend Grace Palo Alto now have a worship environment and community within a short distance. The evening slot removes the barrier of pre-commitment; the people that have not pugged into a church but aren't ready to commit to a new one now don't have to. Our worship model removes barriers of distraction as it adds constant gospel infused adoration which is both deep and accessible.

Now that those barriers are out of the way, the critical link is ourselves. We need to step out faithfully, boldly and actively out of love for Jesus and our neighbors.

How each of you must play a part: 

1) Increase energy & attendance during these first critical weeks. Together, we set the tone as a vibrant, worshiping, hospitable community. Smile big, sing loud, come early and stay late, welcome newcomers. Let's model our ideal community. 

2) Please make bringing guests to the next three weeks your number one priority. Invite friends, neighbors, coworkers. Now is the time to extend invitations broadly. Our first two weeks have shown we really can grow a site down here, and the worship service logistics are working pretty well. So if you were waiting to see how the first couple weeks went.. now is the time to conclude they were successful and its not risky to bring others along. 

The elders and whole congregation are watching to see if the seed of a sustainable community develops from this Taste of Grace preview series. So far, we have great evidence of the energy and commitment of so many of you helping make these evening events happen. In addition to that core, to continue past the six-week series, we need to see growth in the size of the community. And we want to see a culture of growth, of outreach, of bringing and welcoming others into our community. Doing and showing that in this compressed timeframe will require some of us to stretch a little past current habits. Now is the time to stretch, love your neighbor, and bring them to Grace San Jose.

Don't forget the great, walkable dining options before or after the service, especially if you bring new folks. Who wants to meet as a group at Aqui for a 7:00 Dinner this Sunday?

Drew

Andrew Field | 650.248.3464 | afi...@gmail.com