Tag: churches

Top 10 Ways Churches Drive Away First-time Guests

If you attend a church regularly, you’ve probably noticed the phenomenon. A guest shows up for a worship service, but he or she never returns. It is, unfortunately, a common issue in many churches.

I did a Twitter poll to ask these first-time guests why they chose not to return to a particular church. While some of the responses were anticipated, I admit being a bit surprised with some of them.

Though my poll is not scientific, it is nevertheless fascinating. Here are the top 10 responses in order of frequency.

  1. Having a stand up and greet one another time in the worship service. 

    This response was my greatest surprise for two reasons. First, I was surprised how much guests are really uncomfortable during this time. Second, I was really surprised that it was the most frequent response.

  2. Unfriendly church members. 

    This response was anticipated. But the surprise was the number of respondents who included non-genuine friendliness in their answers. In other words, the guests perceived some of the church members were faking it.

  3. Unsafe and unclean children’s area. 

    This response generated the greatest emotional reactions. If your church does not give a high priority to children, don’t expect young families to attend.

  4. No place to get information. 

    If your church does not have a clear and obvious place to get information, you probably have lowered the chances of a return visit by half. There should also be someone to greet and assist guests at that information center as well.

  5. Bad church website. 

    Most of the church guests went to the church website before they attended a worship service. Even if they attended the service after visiting a bad website, they attended with a prejudicial perspective. The two indispensable items guests want on a website are address and times of service. It’s just that basic.

  6. Poor signage. 

    If you have been attending a church for a few weeks, you forget all about the signage. You don’t need it any more. But guests do. And they are frustrated when it’s not there.

  7. Insider church language. 

    Most of the respondents were not referring to theological language as much as language that only the members know. My favorite example was: “The WMU will meet in the CLC in the room where the GAs usually meet.”

  8. Boring or bad service. 

    My surprise was not the presence of this item. The surprise was that it was not ranked higher.

  9. Members telling guests that they’re in their seat. 

    Yes, this obviously still takes place in some churches.

  10. Dirty facilities. 

    Some of the comments: “Didn’t look like it had been cleaned in a week.” “No trash cans anywhere.” Restrooms were worse than a bad truck stop.” “Pews had more stains than a Tide commercial.”

There you have it. The top 10 reasons first-time guests said they did not return to a church. I can’t wait to hear from you readers. You always have such good additions and insights.  

Article written for Christian Leaders Thom Rainer. Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources (LifeWay.com). http://www.thomrainer.com

The 10 Commandments of Great Worship Team Members

Sometimes I lead the worship band and sometimes I play in the band. Both are important roles and have specific responsibilities to do them well. As both a leader and a player/singer, here are my ten most important rules as a team member:

1. I will be available at least twice per month and answer worship department emails within 24 hours 
  • I find that players need to play a minimum of twice per month to stay in the flow of the worship and maintain good relationships with the leader(s) and team members.
  • As someone who has scheduled worship teams for years, prompt replies by the team members is greatly appreciated. Also, it is a good habit to be prompt in all your communication. It is a form of discipline and respect.
2. I will listen to, practice and memorize the songs for Sunday
  • Most musicians learn by listening. I always spend the .99 cents to $1.29 to download the songs on iTunes and make a playlist to listen in my house and car. Listening will teach you things that charts never will. I also use the PlanningCenter.com app and media player for my phone
  • I will take time to practice the new songs for the team and briefly review the older songs. I want to be excellent in my service to the Lord. Wether I get paid or not, I’m playing for the ‘King of kings’. God rewards faithfulness and excellence.
  • I will play according to the style of the music that is driven by the church’s vision/mission instead of simply imposing my personal tastes into the music. 
  • I will memorize the music. Memorizing songs allows me to get past the music and worship God freely. Most worship songs are not hard to memorize. Here is my post on helping you to memorize.
3. I will show up prepared and on time for rehearsal
  • Leaders and other team members really appreciate when all the team has done their homework. When the drummer knows the grooves, tempos and breaks, it makes the rehearsal go so much smoother. When the lead guitar and keyboard players have learned the introductions and lead lines, it saves so much time for the rest of the group.
  • I will bring a pencil to highlight problem parts, changes and incorrect charts.
  • When team members all show up on time, it shows respect and value for the whole team. It promotes unity and makes the rehearsals go much smoother.
4. I will show respect and love for my fellow team members and leader
  • The second greatest commandment is to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’. When team members show love and respect for each other, rehearsals, worship and life in general is much better.
  • If team members get direction that they don’t like. It’s important that they don’t take it personally, agree to disagree and submit – just like professionals do in the studio.
  • Being a leader can be tough. When you give respect and are patient with your leader, God sees and rewards that attitude and heart.
5. I will not noodle on my instrument when the leader is speaking
  • Having great rehearsal habits is important. The time to practice your individual part is when you are on your own.
  • You show respect for the leader and the rest of the team when you learn to listen at the appropriate times.
6. I will worship as I play my instrument and endeavor to be a great worshipper on and off the stage
  • The purpose of a worship band is to worship God and lead the congregation to do the same. If you are just playing or singing then you are not fulfilling your responsibilities. Get past the music and worship God and lead by example.
  • A sign that you are an authentic worshipper is that you are the same on and off the stage. People see you on and off the stage. Be authentic!
7. I will attend church and give whether I am playing or not
  • Great team worship team members know the importance of regular church attendance. We all need to be great congregational members before we can become great worship team members.
  • Supporting your local church means more than playing your instrument. Giving of your time and finances really shows where your heart is.
8. I will practice my singing and/or instrument regularly
  • Great worship team members are better this year than they were last year.
  • Great team members work on growing by practicing regularly, taking lessons and watching and learning from great worship videos.
9. I will wear the appropriate clothes for the dress code
  • I never want my clothes to be a distraction to our worship times.
  • My general advice is to develop a dress code that is modest and culturally relevant to your congregation.
10. I will grow in my love for the Lord and live a godly lifestyle
  • This is the last commandment but it is the most important. Loving God with your whole heart and life is the core of worship.
  • Living a life that is pleasing to God opens up the door for God’s blessing on your life. Don’t allow sin to ruin that. Repent and get back on track!
  • Great worship team members are more than volunteers. They are serving in worship ministry because of the calling and gifting of God in their lives.

Question: What points have I missed? Are you a great worship team member? What areas can you improve on?

Article written by Mark Cole. Mark has spent over 30 years as a Worship Pastor in some of the largest churches in Canada and is also the founding musical arranger of PraiseCharts.com, a ministry supplying worship charts and orchestrations for thousands of churches around the world. To find out more about Mark, click here. 

Letters from a Pastor’s Daughter

Dear pastors, elders, deacons, and ushers,

Secretaries and choir directors, Awana leaders and Sunday School teachers,

Sinners becoming saints gathered under the banner of Christendom;

I am the girl sitting in the front pew, wearing thick leotards, a red corduroy skirt her Mum sewed, and a mushroom cut, and I’m staring out the stained glass window as my Dad preaches from the pulpit.

We look pretty good, shined up and sitting neatly with our practiced smiles beside Mum. Our family lives in a Glass House called a “manse” owned by the church, and I feel it, down to my second-hand shoes with the scuff marks on the toe.

I feel it, with every stare across the aisle and I’m the girl sitting in the front pew, homeschooled and raised on Dr. James Dobson and Scripture verses, who’s starving herself to death.

I turned anorexic at nine years old. Stopped eating because I didn’t have a voice. The manners, and an inscribed Bible; I had awards from Brownies and Guides and Scripture memorization; but I had no friends because we’d moved 10 times before I turned seven, and we were homeschooled in the days when no one else was. I had no self-esteem because I was told it was vain to want to be beautiful. I had no relationship with my father who babysat us once a month when Mum took the afternoon to shop at Salvation Army and before she left, she would have to remind him, “Now remember, they’re your kids too you know.”

So I stopped eating, because a daughter finds her greatest sense of identity in her relationship with her father. And if that doesn’t exist, she often feels she doesn’t either.

Dear church, I implore you:

  1. Encourage your leaders to put their families first.

     Be there for the leader who’s weighed down by expectations and pressure, who’s forgotten about 1 Timothy 3:5 which says, “If a man doesn’t know how to manage his own family, how can he care for God’s church?” (NIV) Help him to combat the belief that he needs to serve at the expense of his wife and children, and remind him that home is his first calling.

  2. Allow leaders some privacy.

    Respect your leaders and their need for some quiet. Don’t call after suppertime unless absolutely necessary. Don’t gossip about their families in the parking lot, and respect the ministry as a job, giving leaders time in which to rest.

  3. Give leaders permission to break.

     Rick Warren says “Your greatest ministry will likely come from your deepest pain.” Let’s allow our Christian leaders to hurt, to need, to want, to struggle. Let’s offer a soft place for when they do. God is always in the place we least expect it. He’s in the middle of nowhere. He’s in the desert with Hagar, and He sees her. He sees this female slave who’s been used and then rejected, and he knows her name. And she calls Him, “El Roi—the God who sees me.” Let’s be people who see each other.

  4. Become friends with the leader’s wife.

    She is human, just like you, and is crumbling from the pressure put on her. When my Mum discovered her own mother had committed suicide, she had no one to tell. No one to be real with. Befriend your leader’s wife before she breaks for the loneliness.

  5. Provide a support system for your leader’s kids.

     It is not easy being taught about God every Sunday but not given a chance to need him the rest of the days of the week. Jesus did not come to save the saints, but the sinners. Give your leader’s kids mentors, who can make the journey a little easier, allowing the kids to question, to doubt, to express, without judgment. Give them permission to be sinners, so they might discover a need for the Savior.

It’s been more than a decade since I ran away from home and I’m finding it again, in the Church. I love her, with all of her idiosyncrasies. But it wasn’t until my father needed his kids and his congregation to come alongside him to care for my Mum that I realized—the pastor was human too. And the congregation realized it, and we became like a family, leaning on each other.

This, the most beautiful kind of worship: when God’s people come together as one and do communion.

Bread is not eaten whole, friends. It is broken, so we might feed off of it.

In the same way, we need to be broken, so in turn, souls might be filled.

All my heart,

 –A repentant and forgiving PK.

Article written for Catalyst Leader by Emily T. Wierenga. Emily is an award-winning journalist, blogger, commissioned artist and columnist, founder of the non-profit, The Lulu Tree. She lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband and two sons. For more info, please visit www.emilywierenga.com. 

Half-Hearted Builders

While the architects were planning and the builders were building, I’m sure neighbors wondered a few things.

How did they know the bridge would stand? Who would be the first car to drive over hoping not to fall into the river? Why did they choose to make the pass there and not 10 feet over? Why arches instead of squared-off angles?

But the builders could trust in the plans – in the carefully thought out blueprints that were researched, rewritten, and finalized by the architect before a seal of approval was stamped in the lower right-hand corner.

Builders keep their heads down and they build. They keep their eyes on the plans and their minds focused on the task. The first task and then the next.

Because usually, you just can’t see the whole thing.

You might see today or a baby step or a choice… .but until you start to chip away, you’ll never see the final product.

And I want to see the final product.

Sitting here mostly wondering who drove over the bridge first. I’m self-assessing if I’m being a builder – for my family, within my business, in my calling, during my day-to-day, through my relationships. Sometimes it’s a yes, sometimes it’s a no.

Because the choices are to build, to leave it alone and watch decay set in, or to demolish… .and that doesn’t leave much room for distracted, apathetic, or half-hearted builders.

Blog written by Ariel Kuhn. Ariel is over Business & Communications at Polaris Church. She also owns and operates Ariel Kuhn Creative Co. For more information or to get in touch with Ariel, have a look at her work here. 

First Free Church

Each week, we feature a new church and introduce you to some of the new and exciting things that’s taking place within it’s doors and within their community. All of our churches have the same mission, however, and it’s to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. We’re all engaged in the same kind of work!

Let’s use this opportunity above all to encourage and pray for each other. If you would like your church to be featured and for us to pray for your church, please comment below with the name and location of the church.

Church Name: First Free Church

Senior Pastor: Adam Bowers

Location: Manchester, MO

Website: efree.org

First Free Church is in a season of change and rejuvenation. Pastor Adam Bowers leads First Free Church with relevant preaching and a focus on discipleship and community. He believes the church should be a place where families thrive, individuals grow, and lives are changed forever. Pray for wisdom and discernment for their pastors and elders as they seek God’s will for direction in the weeks and months to come. They have some open ministry positions within their church so pray for their search teams as they’re advertising and interviewing. Ask that the church would continue to impact their community and always be on the lookout for new and creative ways to grow and further the Kingdom.

*Do you have a need in your church that you would like us to pray for? Comment below. We would love to add you to our prayer list!

“Churches Praying for Churches” is a blog series at MinistryJobs.com. Come along side of us to pray for these churches. Let us know that you’re praying with us by commenting below.

If you would like your church featured in the “Churches Praying for Churches” series, comment below with the churches name and location. 

Pinelake Church

Each week, we feature a new church and introduce you to some of the new and exciting things that’s taking place within it’s doors and within their community. All of our churches have the same mission and it’s to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. We’re all engaged in the same kind of work! Let’s use this opportunity to encourage and pray for each other. If you would like your church to be featured and for us to pray for your church, please comment below with the name and location of the church.

 

Church Name: Pinelake Church

Senior Pastor: Chip Henderson

Location: Mississippi (with five locations in Clinton, Madison, Oxford, The Reservoir & Starkville)

Website: www.pinelake.org

The story of Pinelake Church began in February of 1971 in Brandon, Mississippi in a mobile chapel in a rural area near The Reservoir. By God’s grace and power, our faith family has grown into a dynamic church spanning five cities throughout our state — Clinton, Madison, Oxford, the Reservoir, and Starkville. Weekly, we serve over 11,000 people, but we celebrate stories of life change one person at a time. Pinelake recently celebrated LoveFirst Sunday (http://pinelake.org/lovefirst/) where we are mobilizing our church to share love with 10,000 of Mississippi’s incarcerated. Also, we’re also turning into the final stretch of Making Room (http://www.makingroom.in) a 24-month initiative in response to God’s vision for Pinelake to make room in our hearts and our campuses. Our prayer is that this will become a way of life for all of our campuses! Finally, we anticipate that we’ll launch our sixth campus in 2019!

Please pray for the favor of the Lord to lead us and guide is in all these respects.

“Churches Praying for Churches” is a blog series at MinistryJobs.com. Come along side of us to pray for these churches. Let us know that you’re praying with us by commenting below.

If you would like your church featured in the “Churches Praying for Churches” series, comment below with the churches name and location. 

Branchline Church

Welcome to our first ever “Churches Praying for Churches” blog series. Each week, we’ll feature a new church and introduce you to some of the new and exciting things that’s taking place within it’s doors and within their community. All of our churches have the same mission and it’s to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. We’re all engaged in the same kind of work! Let’s use this opportunity to encourage and pray for each other. If you would like your church to be featured and for us to pray for your church, please comment below with the name and location of the church.

Church Name: Branchline Church

Pastor: Joe Hannah

Location: Hastings, MN

Website: branchlinechurch.com

Branchline Church, led by Pastor Joe Hannah, is a Converge church that exists to connect people to a growing relationship with Jesus. Their atmosphere is laid-back, warm and friendly. They want people to come as they are and to feel at home. They recently went thru a complete brand redesign and it looks amazing! What’s the story behind their name? In railroad terms, the branch line is a rail line that branches off from the main line into the small towns. In the same way, you and I are like this branch line, created to produce life by connecting with our main life line—Jesus Christ.

We love this! Have a look at their website and social media to learn more.

We’re so excited for what’s to come in 2019 for Branchline Church!

“Churches Praying for Churches” is a blog series at MinistryJobs.com. Come along side of us to pray for these churches. Let us know that you’re praying with us by commenting below.

If you would like your church featured in the “Churches Praying for Churches” series, comment below with the churches name and location.