Wear Your Shirt and Share Your Faith

A few weeks ago, our Coordinator of Adult Ministries, Suzy Cass, was presenting a devotional in which she used a video clip from a sermon by Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. In the sermon Adam told a story about a meeting he had with his youth pastor, Dan. It was one of those weeks when time had become tight and their regular staff meeting had been cancelled, so Adam and Dan, both being night owls, decided to meet on their common agendas at a pub down the street from the church at 10pm.

They were seated at a table and talked church matters and enjoyed soft drinks and appetizers. Adam was wearing a sweatshirt with the church’s logo on it which evidently drew a few people to their table. The first was a drunken woman from the table next to them. She asked with slurred speech, “Do you guys go to that church?” They answered “yes”. Then she asked, “Why did God kill my sister?” Adam promised the congregation listening to his sermon that he would be talking about that in his sermon the next Sunday. A while later the waitress stopped by their table and asked, referring to his sweatshirt, “Is that the church on…” and gave the address. They said “yes”. And she asked, “Do you like that church.” Sheepishly, Adam answered, “Yeah, I like it a lot.” Then the woman confessed, “My life isn’t going so well. I just recently got divorced and I have a three year old child. I’ve been a pagan witch for the last eight years and that’s not really working for me. I just feel like I need something else in my life. Do you think that church you go to would let a divorced, single mother who works in a bar and has a been pagan witch come to church?” Adam responded, “I can tell you without hesitation the people of that church would welcome you.” She came the next Sunday – a little surprised to see him preaching in his robe – but that was the beginning of her journey.

As most of you know, we have been selling shirts with our church name on them. You can buy a “golf shirt”, a “camp shirt”, a “t-shirt” or even a shirt with rhinestones on it, but, whatever shirt you buy, I hope you understand the purpose of these shirts. It is not to be a fashion statement (even though I am sure you will look really good in one), but rather an opportunity to share your faith and invite people to church. For most of us, the most difficult part of our Church + 3 commitment is to share our faith. It does not seem to come naturally. Certainly we have had few good role models to show us appropriate and helpful ways to go about it and, we would probably have to admit, we are not always comfortable articulating what we believe. But wearing a shirt with our church name on it gives you a simple way to invite someone to church. First, they will come to you to ask their questions; you don’t have to feel like you are “assaulting” someone against their will. Secondly, you don’t have to be a theologian to invite someone to church.

I hope you decide to wear a shirt as a commitment to your discipleship and a sign of your willingness to share your faith and church with others. You might just find yourself telling a story about how you helped someone start their journey of faith. To order a shirt, contact Suzy Cass at suzy@mysumc.org or call 972-529-5601 x332.