Dear Church...do better.
This one is for people who care about church.
Dear Church,
You are not who you think you are. If I visit your church and no one talks to me, you are not a “friendly church.” When I go to brunch on Sunday, I get a friendly greeting and a warm welcome. Church should offer that, at a minimum.
On that topic, your stale cookies do not scream “welcome!”
Your web site is not for you. It’s for guests, so we can see who you are.
Don’t post a picture of your sanctuary full of people. It looks like there’s no room for me.
When all the doors except one are locked on Sunday, the takeaway is that you don’t want new people. How do people find that one door you have open? It means nothing that you know where it is. Same issue when the web site has the time wrong.
You get one chance with people, maybe two. There has to be a reason to come back.
If you give a noisy kid or a shy teen a dirty look, you do years of harm. People worked really hard to get up and dressed simply get to church.
If the sermon is against anything, there will always be someone listening who is in that category. Your rant about people who are addicted, in debt, have a gambling problem, or are LGBTQ+ will be personal for someone. Or their family. Quit it.
If only you could see yourself the way guests see you…
Love,
Someone who wants you to do better
What are your church rants? I’d love to hear.
Image about via Pexels.
Oh boy. Having come from a church re-development background, I would like to get rid of the "re" and start from scratch at this point! I'm fortunate enough to serve a church where they embrace the different and new and actually practice what they "think " they are. Many of the churches that I have counseled just want to go back in time to when the sanctuaries were full of people who "all think like we do". Sigh. My one advice to churches looking to embrace the new world of today? Get behind a mission and a vision for your church that feels totally God led and commit to radical change, radical hospitality and radical servanthood. If we live in an era where 28% of the population now choose "none" status in the religious checkbox, then we need to seriously rethink the purpose of the church. We have become so doctrine and denominational driven ( man made rules) instead of "love your neighbor as yourself" driven, that we need to start over. My 2 cents. ( and I live it everyday like you!)
I like changing the language of “being a welcoming church” to “being an inviting church.” I guest preach at least twice a month and find many welcoming churches. Some are really lacking though. And very few go beyond welcoming toward making acts that invite connection.