Page 19 - Presbyterian Connection

Connection
Hospitality As Evangelism at St. Mark’s Malton
presbyterian.ca
SUMMER 2024
By St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Ont.
Jesus charged his disciples: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mat- thew 28:19).
The Presbyterian Church in Canada has for many years lived out the great commission by the work of many congregations across Canada. Our denomina- tion has embellished the religious and historical landscape of Cana- da by contributing to the nation’s fulfillment of Christian witness, education, and the development and strengthening of the social fibre for the upliftment and em- powerment of many Canadians. The congregation at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Malton in Mississauga, Ont., is proud to be part of this legacy as we partici- pate in keeping the Presbyterian heritage alive by ministering to lives in Malton and other sur- rounding municipalities.
Through witness, worship, fel- lowship and missions, we seek to continue to welcome people from across the world to our church family. We are a family in Christ united under the mission state- ment: “Out of many nations we are one family in Christ.”
Canada continues to welcome immigrants from many coun- tries and many of Canada’s im- migrants are people of Christian faith. Over the past two years, St. Mark’s has experienced sig- nificant growth in the number of new visitors who worship with us each Sunday. Many of these visitors are new immigrants while others have moved from other
New members at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church Malton in Mississauga, Ont.
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places in the Greater Toronto Area. There are yet others who have re-established their ties with St. Mark’s and have travelled from significant distances to share in worship with us each Sunday.
We realized that in order for the church to grow we had to be deliberate in providing a place of welcome and warm embrace, where visitors and newcomers to our congregation would feel a sense of belonging. Through thoughtful engagement, discern- ment and prayer we started what many church growth practitioners call, “Hospitality Evangelism.” Through this initiative and church growth strategy we engaged and created space for all who visit each week and we have extended welcome to everyone, which has resulted in our congregation’s
growth over the past two years. The evangelism through hospi- tality initiative became the driving force behind St. Marks’ growth, and we thank God for all mem- bers of our church family who have worked hard and have been
welcoming others.
What is hospitality evangelism
and how do we carry out hospi- tality evangelism at St. Mark’s?
The New Testament word that is translated to “hospitality” is a combination of two words which mean “love” and “stranger.” Hos- pitality is how we love strangers.
Hospitality evangelism, then, is a means of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ through love of strangers. In the setting of our church, it refers to welcoming others into our church family so that they may see, hear and ex- perience Christ’s love for others.
As we practice hospitality evangelism in our church family, we strives to:
• Share the gospel through the word and our lifestyle so as to extend God’s kingdom
•Provide opportunities for worship, mission, service and church family fellowship
• Support, encourage, teach and nurture those who come within our church family
• Reach out to those who are less fortunate and are strug- gling to get by
• Increase our mentorship of youth and encourage them to grow in faith.
As people visit our congrega- tion each week, we invite them
to our after-worship fellowship where we get to meet them on a more personal basis. As they continue to come each week, we get them involved in the life of our church by asking them to read scripture, do candle lighting litur- gies and other spiritual activities.
WearethankfultoGodthatour churchwasabletowelcomemany newcomers into the membership of St. Mark’s through Profession of Faith, membership reception and baptism. Over the past two years, we have welcomed more than 30 new members and a simi- lar number of new people to our church are adherents who worship with us every Sunday. The growth of our church family is a great source of encouragement for us at St. Mark’s as this ensures our
congregation’s viability for some time to come. Through our Hos- pitality as Evangelism initiative, we continue to extend welcome and embrace everyone who comes to St. Mark’s for worship. We con- tinue to give God thanks that our siblings in Christ are finding a senseofbelonging,welcomeand embraceinourchurchfamily.
These children of God may come from different places, but they have all been blessed with different God-given gifts. They have already started to serve the Lord at St. Mark’s in different ways through worship, service and witness. We look forward to all that God will do through them as they continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.