Is it time to join Old First?

Are you ready to join Old First? If you would like to commit yourself to our community–or just want to explore the option before actually committing– please send me an email, talk with me on Sunday, or call the church office. I’ll schedule a time for all who are interested to get together to learn more about us.

I know there are quite a few of you out there who have been worshiping with us for some time.  Over the summer, Teresa studied our attendance records. She found 23 people who have been worshiping regularly with us–some for as long as a couple of years; others arrived over the summer. Another measure of the number of newbies around these days: I was talking recently with Adam S, an eagle eye for new faces. I mentioned six different folks from the 23, and Adam needed to get to know them all! Of course, for all intents and purposes, all 23 of these people are already members of this church community.

What a blessing that there continue to be this many newcomers to our community! And so, I am inviting each of you newcomers to prayerfully consider membership. For many of us, making the commitment to this community is about saying something to ourselves, to the world, and to God about our faithfulness. It connects us with others in the congregation who become our fellow travelers on our faith journey. It provides a discipline and structure for our faith that keeps us grounded. And it provides a way to give back to a community that feeds us spiritually week in and week out.

Of course, people are welcome to participate in the life at Old First as they see best. There are some who sojourn with us for years, and for a variety of reasons choose not to officially join. That’s fine, if they find here what they need, and find ways to give back in thanksgiving. So when we invite you to join, we want you to be able to say “no” if it’s not right for you, or doesn’t feel like it would strengthen you relationship with God and the other members of this community. But we want you to know that you are invited, wanted, precious, encouraged.

So I invite you to meet with other newcomers like you to learn more about our community, its history and its place in our city. It might make a difference for you.

See you in church,

Michael