18 September 2009
COME AS YOU ARE on BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY
Members of The Salvation Army are among thousands of Christians across the UK who will be inviting former worshippers Back to Church as part of an ecumenical initiative on Sunday 27 September. For Back to Church Sunday the Christian church and charity will, as ever, be offering a warm welcome, Christian fellowship and a gospel that is relevant to today.
For Back to Church Sunday, which has the theme this year of ‘Come as you are', churchgoers are asked to make a special effort to invite someone they know who used to attend church and encourage them to come back. Up to 500,000 people could be joining congregations from The Salvation Army, Churches Together in Scotland, the Church in Wales, Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed, Elim Pentecostal and Anglican churches nationwide. The initiative also runs in Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Canada. More than 37,000 people took part by attending a church service in 2008.
More than 700 Salvation Army corps (churches) in communities across the UK and Ireland will be encouraged to get involved in this international event first started by the Church of England in Manchester in 2004, with 160 participating churches.
 The Salvation Army's Territorial Commander for the UK and Republic of Ireland, Commissioner John Matear, says: "Back to Church Sunday is a God-inspired initiative, which The Salvation Army is more than happy to endorse, and an effective means of welcoming and embracing people who are waiting for an invitation to share fellowship, friendship and the Christian gospel that is relevant to all ages today.
"I urge as many people as possible to make what could be a life-changing personal invitation to family, friends, and neighbours to come back to church. People don't have to wait for a personal invitation though, as everyone will of course be made welcome on the day."
Research by the Christian relief and development charity Tearfund shows that there are 3 million people who would respond positively to an invitation. ‘Back to Church Sunday' provides the opportunity.
Using UK government figures, author Tim Chester* says a potential 10,000 people live on the doorstep of every town church in the UK including 1,500 people who talk to their neighbours less than once a week, 1,200 people living alone of which 580 will be pensioners and 1,700 people living in low income households. In his book Good News to the Poor: Sharing the Gospel Through Social Involvement Chester says many social problems could be met by simple human contact - and what better way than over a cup of tea or coffee at church?
In 2008, The Salvation Army piloted Back to Church Sunday in the north and east of Scotland. Out of 35 participating centres, more than 200 extra people came to church. Some of the people returned on subsequent Sundays, while some also joined in midweek activities.
 The Salvation Army in Kirkcaldy, located on the high street, was one of the centres involved last year and used outdoor notice boards displaying eye-catching and thought-provoking posters to advertise its participation in Back to Church Sunday. Twenty-two people arrived for Back to Church Sunday, including one person who brought seven family members. Of those 22, three have become adherent members, five regularly attend and five now attend on special occasions.
Lieutenant Gavin Friday, Kirkcaldy corps officer (church minister), said: "We made a special focus of the day but didn't go overboard. We didn't want to have an all-singing, all-dancing Sunday, only for people to come the next week and find something different and then drift away. When only one new woman came on the Sunday morning we started to worry. Then five minutes before the meeting started they all came streaming in. We had to organise extra chairs."
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