An Extraordinary Sunday

Sunday, October 16, English Christian Fellowship moved to a new and larger venue. We moved our worship service to the Hilton Garden Inn, located about one-mile from the hotel where we held services for the previous ten months. It was an extraordinary experience from beginning to end.

We had a record-breaking attendance with 107 people. The included 20 first-time guests who shared their contact information. That is an all-time high for us for new guests. Breaking the 100-barrier is especially significant given that less than a year ago ECF’s attendance was hovering around 20 people.

For the past few days, I have pondered why this growth-spurt is happening. One reason, for sure, is the pent-up need in the San Jose area for another thriving English-speaking church. I never cease to be amazed by the number of English-speakers living in this area. This includes native English-speakers and Costa Rican English-speakers. About 50% of our newly emerging congregation are Costa Rican nationals who are choosing to align themselves with ECF’s vision and values.

A second reason for ECF’s growth-spurt has been our leaders who have sold-out to reach more people for Christ. A growing church is LOTS of work. In every church I’ve served I have told my staff team that one reason many churches don’t grow is because growth requires tenacious effort, problem-solving and additional energy. It is much easier to maintain the status quo. But ECF’s leaders have “stepped up the plate” in a huge way.

For example, our worship and tech ministries invested hours and hours to learn how to use new equipment and to get everything set-up so the service could take place smoothly. No one asked them to do this. They did it voluntarily with passion and commitment because they own ECF’s vision to reach more people.

Our welcome ministry did the same thing. Team members arrived early, positioned themselves in their locations and made sure each person attending ECF was loved well and touched personally before they ever walked into the worship center.

ECF’s children’s ministry team also stepped up like never before. In the new hotel, we have two large rooms to use for children’s ministry. So, now we offer classes for two separate age groups. (I hasten to say that ten months ago there were no children attending. Now, every Sunday new families are arriving.) To accommodate this growth, our children’s team has been meeting faithfully during the week to master their new curriculum and to learn the new technology required to use the curriculum.

A third (and more basic) reason for the growth-spurt is that we have more room at the Hilton Garden Inn. With more seats available, we have capacity to reach more people. There is an inexorable law of church growth that once 80% of the seats are occupied, a worship room is effectively full. In ECF’s previous location we were effectively full for the past few months. Now that we have more seats, we are reaching more people.

I believe another reason for the growth-spurt has been vision-clarity. Several months ago, we framed ECF’s vision with three tags lines: Bible-Centered, Love-Saturated and Outreach-Focused.

ECF is unabashedly Bible-Centered. We believe all 66 books of the Bible are God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

ECF is Love-Saturated. Jesus said the greatest single apologetic for his people would be our love for one-another. Our vision is to palpably love each and every person who comes through our doors.

And ECF is Outreach-Focused. We do not exist primarily to serve ourselves. We are not an inward-focused church. We exist to reach others who are not yet with us with the life-changing message of Jesus. 

One final reason for the growth-spurt has been the generous financial support from friends in the USA. When we first arrived in Costa Rica, we assumed that international churches like ECF would be completely self-supporting from local giving. I have since learned from other international church pastors that the majority of churches around the world like ECF receive ongoing outside support to help fuel their ministry. While I continue to passionately exhort local generosity, I now realize that ECF would not be growing like it is without the ongoing help from friends from afar.

Undergirding each of these reasons for ECF’s growth-spurt is God’s amazing grace. Pam and I believed that God had called us into a new adventure when we left the life and ministry we loved in Nevada to move to Costa Rica. This past Sunday at the Hilton Garden Inn we saw tangible fruit of God’s grace. It was extraordinary.

Whenever God prompts you to step into a new adventure of faith, I hope you say “yes!” Pam and I are sure glad we did!

Warmly,

Steve and Pam