By Ken Adams
For years, I heard about the family who visited a church, sat down in a pew and watched as a woman walked up to them. They eagerly expected to hear, “Glad to see you.” Instead, the woman firmly informed them that they were sitting in her pew. I never expected to hear those words myself, but I did.
I was the visiting preacher. Usually, someone greets the visiting preacher at the door. This time, since no one was there to greet us so we helped ourselves to a pew — the wrong pew. Because a woman marched up to us and asked us to move. It was her pew!
Though, as an itinerant preacher, I have preached in many different churches and visited others on vacations, that only happened once — until I began a search for a new church.
We recently moved to Little Rock after living in Texarkana for over 30 years. Thanks to the BMA website we found a listing of all the BMA churches in Little Rock and the surrounding area. Deciding which one to join was a tough decision because we were mostly pleased with what we discovered.
Through these visits (a bonus!) I was reminded of how churches can encourage “first-time visitors” to return.
The day when all churches started Sunday School at 10 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. is buried in the past. So, we logged into each church’s website before we visited. All had one, but not all were clear. Most of the time, we had to hunt for the service times. A few posted the times on the first page. One just listed “We meet at 9.” We didn’t know if that meant Sunday School or worship. Still, the websites were mostly informative with pictures of the staff and, sometimes, of the congregation.
Most churches greeted us warmly at the door, but some did not. Perhaps everyone thought it was someone else’s job. All churches invited us to return, and many told us which Sunday School would fit us best. Several invited us to future events. At a repeat visit, one Sunday School teacher invited us to lunch.
We enjoyed most of the preaching, as it was, with one exception, Bible-based and truthfully interpreted. The exception, we were disappointed to experience, was more psychology than theology.
The singing was often worshipful, but one church’s praise team appeared to be performing instead of leading worship. Its congregation hardly sang at all. I was kind of embarrassed to open my mouth.
As we entered one church, a woman reached to the floor and put her purse on one of the seats in her row. My mind heard, “This is my row, find another.” I have been in church long enough to not judge the entire church based on one woman (who may have had a good reason for reserving her row). Still…
We finally joined a church. Curiously, it was the first one we visited, and I was pretty sure it was the right one from the first visit. But since we hadn’t joined a church in decades, we wanted to make sure we joined where God wanted us.
The search opened my eyes anew to what church looks like to visitors. Here are some suggestions for your church:
• Create a website and keep it up to date. Include photos of the congregation.
• Label your buildings and post the service times.
• Elect a greeter. Everyone should do it, but if it’s everyone’s job, it’s nobody’s job.
• The appropriate teacher (or student) should invite visitors to Sunday School.
• Inform your visitors of one future event you think they might attend.
Finally, perhaps you could visit a couple of churches and experience what it is like to be a first-time visitor yourself. But tell your pastor first! You don’t want him to think you are on a search for a new church.
(kendrickLadams@gmail.com)