Celebrating Church Homecomings

Though October is “Apple Month,” “National Popcorn Poppin’ Month,” “Positive Attitude Month” and “Squirrel Awareness Month,” it is also “Pastor Appreciation Month” and the time that many churches celebrate “homecoming.”

A church homecoming service may honor founders, charter members and those who contributed to the church’s wellbeing. Such a service can help draw a body of believers closer to God and one another.

Writing about church homecomings, the Rev. Steve Watters posted the following on his blog. (A “blog” is a contraction of the term “weblog,” which is a “log” on the “web.” Some refer to the Internet as “the web.”)

“Homecoming Sunday? It’s something of an odd concept within our contemporary culture,” Watters wrote. “I've never entirely understood the term, even though I attended quite a few growing up in Eastern North Carolina. They were usually in the fall and featured ‘dinner on the grounds’ and special music, but I was never sure what they meant by the name. A co-worker who moved from Alabama said the term implied welcoming back both those who have moved away as well as those the church ran off.”

Watters wrote about his plans to speak at a homecoming service held at the church he attended during his youth: “It’s still unusual for me to head home these days. Dad has died, and our old home has been sold…Just this year, I passed the mark of living away from home longer than I lived in my hometown. A lot happens in that time and it gets harder for me to know what to expect when I return. At a minimum, I know that I was blessed with a Godly heritage rooted in deep soil – and that gives me much to celebrate in my homecoming.”

Watters asked his blog readers, “What does the idea of homecoming mean to you?”

Here are some of their replies:

One man wrote, “Maybe it is a North Carolina thing... I don’t remember hearing of them (church homecomings) anywhere else I lived as a child, and not where I live now, either.”

Another man wrote, “It’s definitely a Southern ‘Bible belt’ sort of thing…Homecoming is basically when people who moved away to another area come back to their old church for a reunion celebration once a year…Where I live, homecoming is an extremely commonplace occurrence, and in many churches, if you don’t make the effort to at least RSVP for your old church’s homecoming celebration, you'll have a lot of elderly church ladies calling you to make sure you’re still alive.”

A lady wrote, “I think it's good to connect with old friends/places again. Reminds me of the journey God has brought me on so far in my life and the things he has used to shape me. A couple of years ago, I moved back to my hometown…I don't attend my church from childhood (it was very strict and I don't really want to raise my kids in that environment), but I enjoy going to weddings or baby showers there. While there is sometimes pain associated with the legalism that I encountered there, it is good to see old friends, Sunday school teachers, etc., realizing they are part of my journey, too.”

I recently told my wife that I would be happy to return for a homecoming service held at any of the churches I’ve been part of over the years. Some of those churches have experienced difficulties and splits, but I fondly recall the good times I enjoyed and wonderful friends I knew in those fellowships. I believe we are blessed when we choose to “remember the best, and forgive the rest.” St. Paul said, “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace…” (Romans 14:19).

Church homecomings seem symbolic of the final homecoming planned for Christians. Dr. John Fawcett, who pas­tored a small church at Wains­gate, England, in the 1770s, wrote the hymn “Blest Be the Tie.” Here is the first verse of that song: “Blest be the tie that binds / Our hearts in Christian love / The fellowship of kindred minds / Is like to that above.” Fawcett ended that song with this verse: “From sorrow, toil and pain / And sin, we shall be free / And perfect love and friendship reign / Through all eternity.”

Christians aren’t home, yet, but earthly homecoming services can serve to draw us closer to God and to one another as we journey toward our heavenly destination.