First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh

Rev. Tom Hall's Corner

Why Change? Part III

I recently heard that the average Presbyterian invites someone to church once every 17 years. That’s bad, but we’re better than the Methodists, who invite someone to church every 24 years. We’re way ahead of Lutherans and Episcopalians (once every 25 and 28 years, respectively). I can’t verify these numbers, but sadly, they seem true.

The only way non-Christians will come is if we invite them. So why don’t we? One reason might be that we don’t think worship will be comprehensible for non-Christians. Tim Keller says that Christians instantly sense if a worship experience will be attractive to their non-Christian friends. Yet Christians tend to preserve what is edifying to them; they tend to overlook the things that are unattractive to outsiders because they love the church and they love each other. This happens in both traditional and contemporary worship formats.

So how are we doing?

We strive for the best traditional worship in awe-inspiring surroundings. We want the service to move quickly, have energy, and be understandable (no religious jargon). The Gospel should always be proclaimed, because the grace of Jesus is attractive to both Christians and non-Christians.

Try this experiment: Invite a non-Christian friend to worship and tell them if they don’t like it, you will buy them lunch. The worst that can happen is you have lunch with a friend and you learn how we can do better.

During the month of March we’ll be trying out changes to our worship service that we hope will make worship more attractive and honoring to God. More to follow next week!

Hungry For More?

Are you tired of the same old brown bag?

Enjoy delicious meals prepared daily by Chef Michael in the First Presbyterian Church Cafeteria! Open to everyone, most meals are under $6 and include various entrees, side dishes, sandwiches, wraps, soups, desserts and more! Located in the lower level of the church.

Visit www.ourdailybreadpgh.org for more info.

Menu for the week of February 20