By Dominic Parry
On August 6th, Mission Trails Church in San Diego, CA got the whole church together for a party and potluck. Since we have had a lot of new faces recently attending, and because we have two services on a Sunday, we thought this would be a great way to build connections and social bridges within our church, helping people feel more at home.
This event was also a great way for people to interact with our staff and leadership team causally. One newer attendee shared with us, the Sunday after, that her daughter and grandson decided to come since there was a bounce house and other family fun. Her daughter felt more comfortable after meeting our staff and seeing her son having fun with others from the church. She said her daughter would have never come to church aside from an event like this.
It’s exciting to break down barriers to spiritual community and give a friendly face to what might otherwise be an intimidating Sunday experience. We hope that events like these will build trust and provide future opportunities for conversations about God. I suppose you could call it “Gospel community with a snow cone.”