Church Shopping List

It's a different time - I've said this before and I'll say it until I die - we can complain and rail against the fact that Christians shouldn't be part of the consumer culture - and that we shouldn't treat church like we do laundry detergent - but the reality is most people ARE living the consumer culture and DO treat their relationship to their church like their relationship to the doctor, their grocery store or any other service they subscribe to: if they can get "better" service somewhere else, they will.  We live in that culture, and we can do what we can to affect change within our own churches, but if we are going to evangelize – if we are going to bring in people who are far from God and try to connect them with the Living Water, we have to think differently now.

I was reading this article a while ago – “5 Must-Know Facts About First-Time Guests” where this guy is basically observing our culture and the church and saying there’s a disconnect.  Here are the bullet points (you really should read the article):

1.     Visitors make up their minds regarding a new church in the first ten minutes of their visit.

2.     Most church members aren’t friendly.

3.     Church guests are highly consumer-oriented.

4.     The church is in the hospitality business.

5.     You only have one chance to make a good first impression.

Generally, I have to agree with him.  When I visit a church, I pretty much make up my mind within a few minutes of what I think of the church and whether or not it’s a “good” church – and it has a lot to do with the atmosphere:

• Does it smell funky? Not cool. 
• Is the prelude music bad*?  Not cool. 
• Did I get snubbed on the way in?  Not cool.
• And so on…

And there’s just no denying that our guests are consumer-oriented: they came looking for something.  Great preaching, great music, a friendly face, whatever, they came to find something.  We hope they came to offer themselves fully in worship, in spirit and truth.  But…that’s not the culture we live in right now.  That develops often later, once they realize what the church has to offer them.  Wrong?  Probably, but it is the reality we live in.  Deal with it.  Or watch your church die as fewer and fewer new faces show up.  I know a couple churches around here that hold on to the idea that “we teach the right stuff” and would scoff at the idea of being “guest friendly” as being “worldly” – who have not had a visitor in months, have had a steady stream of people leaving the church, have not had a profession of faith in months or maybe even years.  But, hey, no donut crumbs on the sanctuary floor, right?

Check out these two comments from the article:

My only question about this article is: Are these first time guests sold out Christians searching for a church that delivers the truth and not some social gospel, or are they unsaved shoppers looking for entertainment, child care, coffee and donuts?

From a pastor:

This article contains everything that is wrong about the church today. We are NOT in the hospitality business, but in the evangelism and discipleship business, or should be. If a church is more concerned about visitors, numbers, and how "social" they are, they should install a Starbucks and forget the whole "church" thing; it will be easier in the long run.
Church is NOT for unbelieving visitors (although no one is turned away) but a sanctuary within which Believers are educated, reproved, corrected, and instructed in righteousness so they can withstand the fiery darts of the Accuser, and exhibit the salt and light called for in scripture, and all this accomplished in an environment of peace, safety, and spiritual familial support. Seeker sensitive doesn't work. Hybels confessed it. Why are you still doing the same thing, expecting different results!?! That is the definition of insanity, not church.

And so it goes.  Worship is for “us,” not for visitors.  Never mind that it’s the one thing that outsiders know we do, and when we do it (thank's to our crummy church signs).  


Don’t come in visitors, worship is for the believers only.  You should come to…um…well…I guess we don’t really want you to come at all, until you already believe what we believe – you’ll pick that up somewhere.  Come back when you have, though, and you’ll fit right in…

Sigh…












*Note: organ, piano, worship band I don't care - is it very poor quality?  I'd rather have silence.  Yes, I think silence, the sound of people chatting, is FAR better than bad prelude music - or pop in a CD of bagpipe music or SOMETHING.  But bad prelude music is often a - ahem - prelude to bad other stuff - bad worship, bad leadership, bad preaching, whatever...  My 2 cents...