The latest column is...

here. The column has several purposes:

• To share Jesus Christ or elements involved in following Him with the community;
• To heighten visibility of Friendship in the community;
• To make it easier for you to discuss Christ and the Church with the your spiritually-disconnected friends, neighbors, family members, and co-workers.

Just today, as happens most days, I talked with a spiritually-disconnected acquaintance in the community, someone I've known for many years, and had the chance, in passing, to invite him to worship with us.

All I said to him was, "You know the welcome mat is always out for you at Friendship." He looked at me and smiled. "I like your style," he said. He wasn't offended. Will he join us for worship sometime soon? I don't know. But he knows that we're a church that cares enough to invite others to know and follow the Savior Who died and rose for us.

As Rick Warren has observed, "The church that doesn't want to grow is telling the world to go to hell." The New Testament is clear that it's God Who makes churches grow by building new Christians. But God only does that in churches whose members want to grow and want their neighbors--all of their neighbors--to know Christ and to go to heaven. Let's be that kind of church!