From the Milton, Ontario, Champion regarding a creative outreach by the new Grace Brethren church there:
Red onion is here.
For people who have been wondering what the heck red onion is as flyers have been delivered and signs posted around town, the mystery has been revealed.
Red Onion: Peeling Back Layers of Doubt is the title of a sermon series that’ll start Sunday at the Village Community Church, which meets at Galaxy Cinemas, at 10 a.m.
“As I looked around, I saw doubt everywhere — in the Bible, in God, in people’s abilities,” said lead pastor Rob Stanley, explaining how he decided on the topic.
The series, which will be spread out over four Sundays, is designed to be an honest exploration of doubt. It’ll feature movie clips, contemporary music and a separate program for children.
“Part of our dream is to be a down-to-earth and relevant church,” Stanley said, adding the theatre atmosphere creates a “neutral environment” that appeals to people who ordinarily wouldn’t be comfortable in a traditional church building.
For the past month, members of the church have been working on creating a buzz and piquing Miltonians’ curiosity by using some promotional methods that are rather unorthodox for a church.
But then, The Village has never been particularly traditional.
A few weeks ago, Stanley and his team sent out flyers to homes stating ‘Red Onion is Coming!’ They gave no more information than that and the address of a website that simply pictured an onion and gave a countdown to Sunday.
In efforts to create further interest, Stanley and his team then delivered red pearl onions to about 12,000 homes. Attached to the onions were cards with the same teasing message as the flyers.
The response was what they’d hoped, Stanley said, with more than 500 hits on the website. This week, 20,000 flyers were once again delivered to homes, this time fully explaining the series and its purpose.
“In the last flyer, we say ‘Please consider yourself invited, doubts and all.’ And we mean it,” Stanley said.
For more information, visit www.red-onion.ca.