On a family holiday in former Yugoslavia many years ago my parents decided we would walk from our hotel complex into the (not so) nearby town. By the time we arrived my mother was suffering from sun stroke, so my father (mercifully) decided we would not walk back, but take the bus. By the time the bus arrived there was a large crowd waiting with us, but strangely in no suggestion of an orderly British queue. As the bus arrived, mayhem erupted as everyone piled into the open door at the same moment. It departed leaving five bewildered Brits standing on the pavement – finally Dad agreed to a taxi!
We live in an age when people, even Christian people, are less likely to be tolerant, polite, or hold back for the sake of others. We have a monthly bring and share lunch at church and I never cease to be amazed at those who are first in the queue every time and who emerge from the swirling mass of people around the food tables with plates overflowing with food regardless of the consequences for those who come later.
However, this is also an age when people are far more discerning and far more likely to make their feelings known. This means we are less likely to get away with mediocrity and that the quality of what we do is more and more important. There is an aspect of performance which is about pretending to be someone or something you are not (e.g. an actor in a play) and this is inappropriate in Church worship. However, there is another aspect of performance which is about being who you are and doing what you do to the very best of your ability. This can apply to the workplace and it can apply to a musician in a concert. When this is done as a part of our worship to God, then the idea of performance is acceptable.
The American academic Geroge Barna identifies five qualities he believes need to be present in a church if it is to attain its goal of quality ministry (Barna, p.62). The church must teach with integrity. It must recognise the need for excellence and strive to provide it. There must be consistency in the message the church projects to members and visitors. Those in leadership must have lives that give credibility to their ministries. Finally the church must be there for people when needed and so prove reliable.
Bast is also clear that the worship service is a key element in determining whether or not a visitor responds positively to their experience (Bast, p. 66). For the unchurched visitor with no experience of church worship or whose experience is from many years previously, what matters is the sense that what they are experiencing is ‘real,’ authentic and full of integrity. The churched visitor may well be assessing their visit according to what they know and are used to and they may miss the more vital questions of authenticity. This has little to do with the content and style of worship because it is all about the active participation of everyone in the act of worship. We are all different, from the food we like to the films we choose to watch, to the way we decorate our homes, so there is space in the life of our churches for all varieties and styles of worship.
This leads us to a discussion of relevance and the realisation that the church has a responsibility in every generation to present itself in relevant ways. Any fair analysis of church life in the UK will reveal that there are large and well attended churches of all worship styles and forms. However, it will also reveal that, in the main, common to growing churches is, to one extent or another, what might be termed a contemporary approach to worship. Visitors can determine the welcome was genuine and warm, the worship truly authentic, but that the style lacks relevance to them. A common conception held by people who do not attend church is that the church is out of date and out of synch with modern society and if what they encounter when they attend church reinforces this view, they will not return, no matter how warm our welcome and genuine they perceive our worship to be. It will be dismissed as OK for you but not relevant to me. Churches that add to their welcome and the authenticity of their worship the use of contemporary technology and contemporary musical styles will be more accessible to the unchurched. The message is eternal, but the way we present it and support it is not.
There is a view held that all and any concentration on growth for its own sake is too human, unspiritual, ambitious and ungodly. Perhaps sometimes it is! However, the clear evidence is that growing churches are churches that plan to grow, work at growing, and do things intentionally to facilitate growth. The irony is almost certainly that, if one did find a growing church that was not focussing on growth as a priority, you would find a church unintentionally doing those things that are advocated by the proponents of church growth.
There is perhaps some truth to the criticism that seeing the whole of church life through the prism of church growth is an unhealthy emphasis on what is only one important aspect of the ministry of the church. It might be helpful instead to see the established principles of church growth through the prism of church ministry. For those uncomfortable with the church growth movement, it may be this process will allow them to reflect upon it more positively:
THE CHURCH GROWTH PRISM
Ten steps to church growth
THE CHURCH MINISTRY PRISM
The ten steps to being church
1. Discover Growth principles
1. Seek Vision for the Church
2. Respect Biblical Principles
2. Be faithful to God’s word
3. Yield to God’s purposes
3. Be obedient to God’s calling
4. Give priority to effective evangelism
4. Prioritise being effective in all your ministries
5. Discern the body
5. Understand your people, their gifts and their skills
6. Discern the community
6. Know the needs of the community you are called to serve
7. Look beyond yourselves
7. Realise that ‘the church is the only institution on earth that exists for the benefit of its non-members’
8. Plant new churches
8. Develop new ministries for new needs
9. Structure for growth
9. Structure to serve efficiently, and excellently
10. Take risks
10. Step up for God always giving your all
Figure 2 - The growth/church Prism
If the danger of the Church Growth prism for some is that it fails to give sufficient emphasis to the other important purposes of the church, then the danger to the Church Ministry Prism is that it fails to understand that growth should always be the outcome of effective ministry.
The Cross of Christ is pre-eminent in understanding everything we do and it is at the Cross that the love, the compassion, the justice and the ‘everything’ of God find fulfilment and relevance. There is no purpose in the life of faith, no ministry in the church, no calling of God that does not rest in the shade of the Cross. Whatever we do for people, whatever we do for our communities, we fail them if we do not as a result bring them to the Cross where they can at least have the opportunity to meet Jesus and discover him as saviour and Lord. Loving the unlovely is good and godly, but it is not enough; feeding the starving is good and godly, but it is not enough; fighting the cause of the oppressed is good and godly, but it is not enough.
If we do properly and effectively all we are called to do, the poor will be fed, justice will abound, the unloved will be loved and the Kingdom will increase and the church will grow. There is a need, especially within the UK, to realise that we have become so comfortable with decline that we have lost sight of this essential understanding of God’s purpose and intent. If there is a need to see things for a while through the prism of Church Growth, it is because we have evolved a Prism of Church Ministry from which growth has been eliminated. John 3:16 reminds us that, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ God doesn’t want us to live in a failing creation, in a world without Justice, unfed and unloved but we can survive those things if we have the assurance of eternal life. Having all those things, but not the assurance of eternal life, means we won’t survive at all!
There is then a need for all church members and ministries to understand the part they have to play within the evangelism ministry of the church and the part the church and its leaders have to play alongside this.
Only rarely do people walk off the street into church, and even those who do will usually have a reason as to why it is your church they have entered. However, making the community in which you exist aware of your existence will increase significantly the instances of people walking in off the street. Advertising in all its forms is a way of making people aware of the existence of the church and your church in particular.
In your community there are people who once attended church regularly, and while some will have left in anger or disappointment, many more will have drifted away without having made the choice to do so. It was recently reported by a Professor of Child Psychology that children are born with a predisposition to believe in God, and not all of them who fail to find a way to church in infancy lose this predisposition as they enter adulthood – they remain in your local community as those whom we might term ‘seekers.’
Then there are those such as Parents and Toddlers, children and youth, the bereaved, the elderly and lonely for whom knowledge of a particular ministry of your church is just what they need to hear.
A friend of mine despaired over a flower festival held in the church he led. The church devoted over £1,000 to the purchase of flowers and those who prepared the displays did an amazing job. The problem was that so few people came to see the festival. The ‘arranger’ who originated the idea had started with the notion they would get sponsors for each display and this seemed perfectly possible, but when it came to it, not one of those involved was prepared to go and look for sponsors or in the end do anything to publicise the festival. My friend gave them no end of ideas as to how they could effectively publicise the festival, but they took none of them up. It was as though people considered it was enough that they provided the displays and the least people could do was to come and see them. This thinking was a recipe for disaster and many church events fail, not because they are not worthy of succeeding, but because those involved fail to take full responsibility for their ministry, and that must include letting others know about it. Publicity and advertising will not turn a declining church into a growing church, but they have their part to play.
Small groups also serve as entry points, but may not in themselves suffice to bring people into church. Many UK churches operate ‘Parent and Toddler’ groups in one form or another, but few would report them as being key points of entry into church life, or even points of entry into Sunday School. The principle reason for this is that they are operated as social action ministries of the church, with no thought given to the ‘evangelistic potential’ of the ministry because those who run such ministries do not wish to accept this responsibility. They are run as an end in themselves rather as a means to an end where the end is the missio dei.
Of course, we must also be clear that, if we turn the weekly ‘Parent and Toddler’ group into an ‘in your face’ evangelistic event, it is likely that attendance will plummet. What is needed is ministry leaders and helpers who understand both the specific purpose of the ministry undertaken and the desire of Christ to know these people and to be known by them
Many churches struggle to find the means to encourage those from outside the church into their buildings; what a tragedy it is that, in churches where the community is already brought through the doors, creative and meaningful ways are not found to help them further in. Are the parents of toddlers informed of the possibilities for dedications, christenings or naming ceremonies that exist in your church? Are the opportunities provided by Christmas, Easter and Harvest followed through? Do parents receive the church magazine if there is one? Are they invited to special services and events? Do they know about the justice issues being raised in your church? There are many simple, inoffensive ways to encourage people further in and to show them the door is open into the church fellowship.
The most common entry point will be your existing attenders. One of the churches I pastored underwent a £1.2 million transformation of its premises which took almost a year to complete. The church was ideally located in town and most of the 20,000 inhabitants would have been aware of what was happening. The congregation felt really good about what they were doing and, as a result of their positive self-image, found it relatively easy to invite friends and family members along to the new church which increased its membership by 30% during the period of the project and in the months that followed. The church was also especially united during this period and very enthusiastic about everything.
Self-image, unity and enthusiasm are three of the five pre-conditions Bast recognises as being essential for a church to grow (Bast, p.26), the other two being Community based Ministry and small group opportunities.
Most of us, in our coming to faith, can point to the role of key individuals. It has been calculated that between 75-90% of people who come to church do so because they have been invited by someone already in attendance (Bast, p. 57). We have noted that people need confidence in their church and pastor if they are going to invite others along, but they also need confidence in themselves and that in Christ they are of eternal value.
On a recent visit to the USA I attended the first Sunday morning service at a church that reported in its bulletin an attendance the previous week of almost 2,500 people though its three main services (one Saturday night and two on Sunday morning). There were greeters everywhere, stewards to show you to seats and a large welcome desk. After the service visitors were encouraged to go to the welcome area in the foyer to meet the Pastor and receive a gift as a memento of the visit. On another Sunday on the same trip I went to the only service at a small rural church that was attended by about 90 people and I was the only visitor (certainly from the UK!).
I reflected afterwards on these different experiences and realised that what I expected from one I did not expect from the other. At the large church I felt quite comfortable with a cursory greeting as I arrived, the same all other attendees received, with only my UK accent perhaps revealing I was a visitor. Surprisingly, and perhaps from their standpoint disappointingly, no one picked up on my accent to engage me in more prolonged conversation, but it didn’t matter as, surrounded by 800 others, I did not feel conspicuous or out of place. The welcome was not that important to me and I guess I understood that in a church this size, I would need to make the running if I wanted to be known – that was fine.
However, at the smaller church I felt differently. I received the same cursory greeting and initiated a brief conversation that would not have happened otherwise. Sitting down, I felt very conspicuous and no one else spoke to me. I returned from a trip to the rest room to find my bag moved along the pew as I was evidently sitting in someone else’s space. Only after the service, having been introduced by the Minister as a visiting pastor from the UK, did people come and talk to me. I couldn’t help but feel these were safe conversations because they knew I would not be coming back.
On the third Sunday I visited a church I had heard spoken of very highly as an ‘emerging church’. Their welcome was the worst I received out of any of the churches I attended! No one greeted me, no one showed me to my seat and no one came to engage with me afterwards in any meaningful conversation. I was a stranger in a room full of people who knew each other really well and despite sticking out like a sore thumb I was thoroughly ignored. It was more like submerging church than emerging church.
It is helpful to understand that in different settings visitors will have different expectations. However, in all circumstances there are three crucial moments experienced by all visitors.
Whatever size of congregation, these are crucial. Everyone who attends a service should be greeted at the door and then, when they find their seat, they should be greeted by the people around them. In those churches where there is a reasonable expectation of spotting visitors (up to 250-300 members), those members whose skills go beyond greeting people should either meet guests at the door and bring them to their seats and introduce them to others or wait until they have taken their seats and then approach them. Such welcomers should possess:
If visitors have children, then there is a fourth extremely crucial moment in the service which must be addressed and the welcomer must know:
It is not essential that a welcomer remains with the visitor(s) throughout as this might be overwhelming, but at the conclusion of the service it is important to re-engage with them:
The wise welcomer will always carry a pad and pen and as soon as possible make a note of the names of the visitor(s) and perhaps note down some other bits of information about them.
In a church large enough to have evolved a system of Welcoming (100-150+), your church may well have produced a card for the purpose of recording the contact details of the visitor(s), but some sensitivity must be shown as many first time visitors will not want to give these details without good reason. One reason would be if you were able to offer some follow-up to their attendance by for example saying to them, “Our Pastor likes to write to all visitors after they have been to church - would you mind if I took your name and address.”
A further possibility would be to offer personal contact, “I like to phone people who have been to church for the first time to see how they are getting along – would you mind if I telephoned you this week?” The third opportunity will depend on how well your conversation with the visitor(s) has gone and on the appropriateness of it, but it might be that arranging a follow up visit during the week would be possible. A home visit should be made with a companion, especially one you feel might relate to the visitor better than you do in terms of age or interests. If you make such offers, ensure you follow though on them and never make offers on behalf of other people without their permission – especially your Minister!
While welcoming that takes place publicly in the body of the church need not necessarily follow strict rules about men greeting men, couples greeting couples, etc., the Welcome Team leader should be aware of such matters and team members should be wise.
However, when it comes to follow-up these kinds of rules will come into play and issues of appropriateness and personal safety need to be borne in mind, for, as much as you may want to welcome people into your church, visitors are also strangers about whom you know very little. A home visit to a newcomer should not ideally be undertaken alone therefore, and should never be undertaken without someone else (your team leader) knowing.
There is no doubt that the likelihood of a return visit increases greatly when visitors are followed-up in these ways. In fact, statistics suggest that the quicker the visit is made the stronger the chance of a return visit. A visit made by Wednesday of the following week may have as much as an 85% return rate, which dropsd to 15% if the visit occurs the following week.
Interestingly, the return rate given is when the visitor is a lay person, when the pastor visits the return rate drops by one half (Bast, p.116)! This may well be because the pastor’s visit is seen to be part of his job whereas that of a lay member is seen as therefore more real.
Identifying returning visitors is crucial and it is the responsibility of a welcomer to do their utmost to connect with visitors on their return visits. A weekly forum at which welcomers can share their news, especially if they are going to be away from church the following week, is extremely helpful as this will enable other welcomers to watch for returning visitors. A visitor who returns a second time has shown a connection with the church that may make their willingness to give their contact details more likely, but even still they should be requested sensitively.
If you are on your church Welcome Team it is likely that you are reasonably good at making conversation. Nevertheless, the following will serve as a reminder and perhaps even offer some new ideas.:
In churches which receive a significant number of visitors, a welcome meeting is a very useful way of encouraging newcomers into the church or of moving them along from the visiting stage to the joining stage or the belonging stage. The regularity of such events is a decision to be made locally and will depend on the numbers of visitors attending. The setting should be part social and for some a lunch after church on Sunday may be best or a mid-week cheese and wine evening (if not offensive in your church). The numbers of church members present should not overwhelm the visitors, but should include church staff, church officers, key church leaders, welcome team members who know the visitors, etc.
Such an event should/could include:
When Bast states that, “…the goal in evangelism is not to get decisions, but to make disciples” (Bast, p.111), he is stating perhaps a half truth. It might be said that the goal of the evangelist is to get decisions whilst the goal of the pastor is to make disciples and build the church.
Of course, in all this discussion about how to reap and keep visitors, we must not lose sight of the fact that it is not visitors per se that we want, but men and women brought into a place where they may hear and respond to the Gospel. Stutzman is one willing to voice what many say which is that, despite the popularity and appeal of Billy Graham, there is little evidence of long term church growth as a result of his missions. He comments that, “Christians must present the Gospel in such a way that new people understand the role of the church before they make a commitment, rather than afterward.” (Stutzman, p. 55 – his italics). While there may be a comfort in realising that people lost to the church are not necessarily people lost to the Kingdom, we must all realise that growing churches producing mature disciples, who in accordance with the strategy of the Great Commission (Matthew 28.19-20) are re-producing disciples, will be all the more effective in their evangelistic mission. So where the evangelist may stop short at soul-winning and decision making, the pastor and the church must be more ambitious for the Kingdom and look to produce disciples by;
These are lofty, though worthy, ambitions, but in the first instance we are concerned with techniques that allow us to open the door of the church to newcomers. It is to be hoped that, in any Bible centred church, there will be many and varied opportunities for those present to hear and respond to the Gospel and, in such circumstances, it will be very rare that an individual asks for membership without knowing that a personal faith in Jesus Christ will be necessary. Of course, at no point in time should any individual be thought of merely as evangelism fodder, but only and always as the beloved of God for whom you as a church have pastoral responsibility. As they begin to make the transition from visitor to member, the most effective witness we give them is our friendship and care, and, at this point, the natural life of a Gospel church, which includes the preaching of personal salvation, will do the rest.
Good record keeping will greatly aid this process, even though there seems at times a built in reluctance to be organised in our churches. Those who visit once and do not return do not always do so for negative reasons, but are following their sometimes very shy natures. Others may visit for a very specific reason or need which is fulfilled by the visit and so they do not return. An invitation to a special service or event may prompt a return visit. The keeping of an up to date list of such people is a helpful thing to do.
You may wish to add to this list:
By sending such people regular information and invitations, you encourage them to see your church as the church community to which they ‘belong’ even in absentia, and so the church community to which they will come as and when circumstances dictate. God is here for the long haul with all of us, so we should also be with one another!
A visitation programme geared toward each group represented on the list might usefully be implemented by your church from time to time. These are not cold calls, as the people concerned have a link with the church. Most people recognise that link and understand that the church visits people, so even if they do not want a visit, they will not on the whole treat your requests as strange or unreasonable.
The relationship between church and individual is forever fluid, but the process of welcoming and receiving visitors might be expected to be declared over at the point at which the individual seeks to identify with the local church by whatever initiation or membership process they follow. If this is a point at which the individual truly feels they belong at your church and that it is their spiritual home; if they have established real and true friendships in the church or are on the way to doing so; if they have found (in a large church especially) a place in one of the organisations/ministries or house groups of the church; and if they have found a task or role to fulfil: then we may believe with some confidence that the process of welcoming and receiving them is accomplished.
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You are reading Church - Where Everyone Knows Your Name (part 2) by Clive Jarvis, part of Issue 55 of Ministry Today, published in July 2012.
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