Counties Evangelist Martin Korchinsky shares how being warm and welcoming to newcomers - and meeting them where they are, can provide space for God to do His work in their lives.

Martin & Angshie Korchinsky

Martin is the pastor of Brinnington Community Church, which is based on a housing estate in Stockport. He preaches and runs youth clubs, drop-ins, and a food bank, plus Neighbourhood Chaplains and various mission weeks in the local area. Martin is married to Angie with three grown-up children and two foster children and was introduced to Counties from the Church Planting Initiative.

Sign outside Brinnington Church 

MARTIN’S STORY

Our open door / easy access policy has been rewarded on recent Sundays. We have had new faces at least once a month and one of those was Matt, a young man looking a little nervous and under the weather who came enquiring about church when he read the sign (see attached) and saw the doors open. I engaged him in conversation and it transpired that much like myself, he had found Christ outside of the church but was uncomfortable with actually going into a service for the first time (in his life it turned out).

He had been saved through ‘Apologetics’ as had been interested in religion in a negative way - particularly Islam. He came across Christian apologists online and he thought: “These guys know what they are talking about and they’re Christians!”

So, he started reading the Bible he got saved, completely outside the church. But he didn’t understand the difference between ‘grace’ and ‘works’.

I convinced him to stay for the communion service and sat next to him - again he became nervous and when I asked him he said it was because he had never been christened or baptised and therefore believed he could not take communion.

Right then, I reassured him that his faith in Jesus Christ and the grace of God were all he needed to 'qualify' for communion.

So he perked up visibly and for the first time took communion as a believer and also stayed for his first ever church service, our Bite Size Bible Service which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Matt has since been every Sunday and attended every midweek Bible Study. This reaffirms to me the importance of engaging newcomers in an open and welcoming way and letting where they are at, lead the conversation.

The Scripture that comes to mind is - 1 Corinthians 3:6-7  (one) planted, (another) watered, but God gave the increase.

This Sunday we had the great pleasure of watching him being baptised. He’s buzzing!

The great news is that three others were baptised along with him and they're a great range of ages and backgrounds. One 21-year-old lad, who’d moved to the area and our church, was baptised by his former minister (a friend of mine) and his whole former church came to support him. Then a Sri Lankan church that meets at our church, before our service, stayed for the baptism and then the food and fellowship afterward.

The result is that, as of now two more people have signed up to be baptised.