I was attending worship with my daughter a few weeks ago when the pastor opened the service by welcoming everyone and then inviting newcomers to stand and introduce themselves if they wished. My daughter leaned over and in a quiet voice said, “Everyone knows that is not the best way to greet new people. The pastor obviously doesn’t want the church to grow. I won’t be coming back to this church.” The service was only three minutes old and she had already ruled it out.
Twenty years ago, this was a key to church growth. I did exactly the same thing every Sunday, and we were taking in new members as fast as we could process them. People came to church looking to connect immediately with a new group of friends. They were happy to introduce themselves, their children, and anyone else with them in the pews. But all that has changed. What happened?
I cannot say definitively; I can only guess. My guess; is: After 9-11 every church in America saw a big uptick in attendance. This lasted for about a month, and then attendance went down. When the U.S. was attacked and so many innocent lives lost, people sought solace, foundation, and direction. Our hearts were broken, our foundations were shaken, and we did not know where to go. But the pastors and the churches were just as lost. People did not find what they were looking for, and they stopped looking.
The messages that began to come from our churches became much more polarizing. The religious right, the right-to-life vs. freedom-of-choice debate, the tea party anger, the growing LGBTQ movement, the evangelical embrace of the ultra-right, etc., meant that churches were no longer sanctuaries – they were battlegrounds. Many people stopped attending worship entirely. Nationwide attendance at all churches declined dramatically. People became afraid of what a new church might be.
Today when people attend worship for the first time, they want to be invisible. They want to hear the messages for several weeks. They want to experience the congregational life from afar. They don’t want you to know they are even there. They will not fill in attendance registration slips in full until they are sure the church is a safe place for their family and their personal world view.
So, what are we to do in this new, more fearful environment?
- Recognize the fear! When we understand that people are actually afraid of church attendance, we can take steps to make sure they feel reassured and safe. When we add the fear of standing up and speaking in front of strangers, we will understand the fear is staggering. Let them be invisible; it’s okay.
- Claim your identity! Overcome their fear with a positive statement about your congregation. Your statement of belief needs to be everywhere; “This is who we are, and this is what we believe, and this is how we live that way.” This statement must be found on your website, all your social media, in your liturgy; calls, prayers, affirmations, etc. Further you must live it out, all the paid and volunteer staff must manifest this identity constantly.
- Don’t be shy! Feel free to introduce your church to the new people when they arrive. (See 1 & 2 below) It will be very helpful if you have a simple brochure to hand to them. This can do three simple things: Claim your identity, advertise upcoming events, and tell new people how to attend those events. These smaller group events are great ways for people to get to know other members and further determine whether this is the church for them. So, rather than inviting people to stand, simply say, “If you are new to our church, we have a special brochure we would like you to take home. It describes who we are and lists some wonderful events that will be happening in the very near future. You will find these in the pews, in the entrance and the ushers can get one for you, too.”
- Broadcast! Let people experience your worship without attending. At my last church we broadcast all our services live on our YouTube Channel and immediately archived these recordings for later watching. It was common for people to come up to me for the first time on Sunday morning and call me by name, explaining that they had watched several events online and decided this was the church for them. It is really easy to remain anonymous sitting at home. But when they came, they were eager to be a part and quickly join the church. YouTube, Facebook, and other sites make this easy to do.
Don’t do things that make people uncomfortable or put them in a spotlight.
Do make sure you do everything you can to help people feel at ease, comfortable, cared for, welcomed, informed and invited back. It’s a small thing, but small things can make a big difference.