Dear Mars Hill,
We have 14,876 reasons to celebrate. God exploded our church over the weekend with the biggest Sunday we’ve ever had (not including that one time we rented a football stadium). To give you some perspective:
• We have grown by 50% (5,000 people) since this time last year.
• We have grown by 12% (1,500 people) since this time last week alone.
• This past Sunday, six of our churches had more than 1,000 people in attendance: Ballard, Shoreline, West Seattle, Bellevue (almost 2,000!), Downtown Seattle, and Albuquerque.
• All this despite the fact that two of our churches, Olympia and Federal Way, had to meet in temporary buildings on Sunday due to power outages.
• Church-wide, we’re at 82% capacity and have 36 weekend services at 14 churches.
• Downtown Seattle is now larger than it was before it sent a few hundred people out to launch the Rainier Valley church.
• The total number of Community Groups is now up to 551. We’ve added 60 new groups since the end of 2011.
Praise God! It’s incredible to see what Jesus is doing at Mars Hill. What an amazing miracle we get to be a part of! We have a ton of momentum heading toward Easter, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store next.
Where We’re Going
Now that we’re on the cusp of 15,000 people, we’ve got our sights on 20,000. We always want our church to grow because as the church grows, the gospel will spread. As the gospel spreads, more people will meet Jesus and be saved.
How Will You Bless Others?
Our church cannot continue to grow if we do not grow in maturity as its people. There are a lot of new folks around Mars Hill these days, which means the rest of us need to think more about how we can bless others in the same way the we have been blessed. Here are some simple ideas:
• Show up to church with a servant mentality (looking for needs you can meet) rather than a consumer mentality (looking for your needs to be met).
• Join a Community Group—and participate: talk to people, bring some food to share.
• Give.
• Attend the first or last service of the day to make room during prime time for newcomers.
• Attend one service and volunteer at a second.
• Be friendly. Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly.” Introduce yourself to somebody this Sunday. Invite them to your Community Group.
We serve an amazing God who has blessed us with an incredible church. Let’s enjoy it and make the most of it so that more people can meet Jesus!
Sutton Turner is the executive pastor of Mars Hill Church.
