Back to Church

This Sunday, Sept. 20, is "National Back to Church Sunday." It's probably not up there among your favorite holidays, and for that matter, you may have never even heard of it. But it's a popular promotion in church circles and it does provide an annual reminder of the importance of inviting our friends and neighbors to come and worship with us.

The day was actually started back in 2009, by a church outreach marketing company, so it's not hard to see some of the motivation behind it to begin with. But it was more than just a marketing gimmick. It was intended to address declining church attendance and encourage active congregation outreach.

Since its inception 17 years ago, more than 37,000 churches have participated, from more than 120 different denominations, and more than 5 million people have been reached across all 50 states.

The 2026 theme, "Find Your Place," focuses on tackling loneliness and helping people connect with a local church family. It emphasizes that church is a welcoming home designed to offer love, healing, and meaningful human connection. Which is certainly something that we emphasize a bunch at Shelby Crossings already.

Organizers were inspired to start the annual event by surveys showing that roughly 80% to 82% of unchurched people would visit a church if a friend invited them, but only about 2% of regular churchgoers actually extended an invitation. The single-day event was designed to bridge that gap by giving regular church members an easy, supported prompt to invite neighbors, coworkers, and friends.

I would hope that we wouldn't need a special day or emphasis to invite folks to join us in church, but it's always helpful to have a little extra reminder and motivation to be about our Father's business of reaching out to the world around us. If that's you....then consider this a reminder, and I hope you will take a minute to invite a friend or neighbor to come with you to worship at Shelby Crossings this Sunday.

But this invitation also goes out to others who may be reading this, but have gotten out of the habit of attending worship. Perhaps you got busy or distracted, or your work schedule kept you from attending for a while. Maybe you faced a crisis that turned your life upside down and you've had a hard time getting things back to normal. Or maybe you chased your kids and their activities for a few years and that took you out of church, and you just haven't gotten around to coming back. Well, this Sunday is a wonderful day to get back over the hump and come back to church this Sunday.

And let me add one more invitation, and this goes with what we have been talking a lot about lately, and I have written about a few times here in this ePistle blog. If you are a "prodigal" who has been running from God, and your life is filled with pain and shame and regret...there's never been a better time for you to come back home to Him. The Father loves you, just the way you are, and He is waiting on you, with open arms, to come home.

And here's the good news: if you can't make it this week for Back to Church Sunday, we'll be ready to welcome you back the following week, or the one after that. Every Sunday is an open invitation to come back to church and be a part of this loving community as we worship the Lord together. We have a place for you at Shelby Crossings!

As I said last Sunday, I am so grateful for the privilege of serving such a wonderful church, and I am excited about how the Lord continues to work in our fellowship. I can't wait to see you again on Sunday!

--Pastor Ken