Evangelism to the "unchurched" is a priority for many Christians in the US today, judging by the chat in the blogosphere and in publications aimed at the Christian audience. Recently a Seattle paper sent 31 reporters to visit 31 different churches in the area and write their responses.
You can read all about it here: A Month of Sundays.
Their comments and observations should be included in a Real Life Evangelism 101 class. Most of them could not be classified as "seekers" in any sense, they were just there to do a job and wouldn't have darkened the doors otherwise. Most of them had very little church background and several alluded to unpleasant memories of churchgoing. And most seem to be twenty and thirty-somethings.
One of the most positive comments came from the guy who attended a Presbyterian church. I think he was much more predisposed to be favorable to church in general than the other reporters.
Many of you enjoy reading the church reviews on the Ship of Fools site. This is very different because the reviewers often have no idea what is going on in a traditional (let alone a contemporary) worship service. Their frame of reference is wholly secular.
You can read all about it here: A Month of Sundays.
Their comments and observations should be included in a Real Life Evangelism 101 class. Most of them could not be classified as "seekers" in any sense, they were just there to do a job and wouldn't have darkened the doors otherwise. Most of them had very little church background and several alluded to unpleasant memories of churchgoing. And most seem to be twenty and thirty-somethings.
One of the most positive comments came from the guy who attended a Presbyterian church. I think he was much more predisposed to be favorable to church in general than the other reporters.
Many of you enjoy reading the church reviews on the Ship of Fools site. This is very different because the reviewers often have no idea what is going on in a traditional (let alone a contemporary) worship service. Their frame of reference is wholly secular.
Hat tip: Decently and In Order.
13 comments:
I just skimmed these but they're fascinating and I'll come back tomorrow when I have more energy. To see ourselves as others see us, indeed.
What strikes me in my first read-through is the level of animosity and cynicism. I think a lot of people really have a sense that "coercion" is synonymous with "religion." I guess if I felt that way, I would be disdainful and cynical, too.
This is the 4th time in the past few minutes that my word verification has been "smenita." Weird.
It was interesting that "A Month of Sundays" started off with "Seattle is godless." I've often looked back on my growing up on the west coast, especially north of Seattle, and how we (in the "good, smart girls" group)did not go to church during high school, and neither did our parents. Now that I'm in south Texas, all the good, smart girls (and not so good) go to church on Sunday. The Bible Belt is truly in the south.
Serena, oddly, I've also had that verification has been "smenita"--if fact, that may have happened when I commented at your site!
Something odd's up with blogger. We'll likely never know what it is. I've been having problems with it all day.
Anyway. I skimmed some of the articles as well. I'm glad they did it. It gives us a cold shower reality check. I also pictured God in his heaven, slapping hand to shaking head, saying to himself "Didn't think they'd fall apart this fast. Wasn't plannin' on comin' back so soon."*sigh*
It's those that wrote the articles that are the ones we're missing.
OK, I read the first three and, more importantly, looked at the photos. So far:
Beautiful images. I want to go to that first church with the windows, and the one with the blue cupolas (?) and yellow crosses -- at least I think I do.
I'm fascinated by the paper's doing this series with reporters who have no idea what they are seeing. Usually we take seriously complaints about reporters and writers who have failed to educate themselves about their topic and thereby do more harm than good. Why in the case of religion is it ok for them to tout their ignorance as though they should get a gold star for it?
OTH, the Christian Faith Center and Mars Hill both sound worthy of parody. I do know that God's highest priority is rich men on motocycles exercising leadership via Powerpoint and raking in $$$ via big screen projection.
Gannet - Why is it OK for the writers to tout their ignorance?
Simple - they are participating in an experiment. This article does not attempt to be a review of churches. It is instead a story of what happens when a non-church person tries attending one.
They are VERY much like the typical non-Christian visitor (or even seeker) who comes into a church for the first time. It really is that scary if you weren't raised in some Christian tradition (and sometimes even if you were).
And they are who we need to reach if we want to grow. Otherwise we're just exchanging members with other churches and occasionally bringing someone in or out of retirement from church.
I understand what you're saying about the reporters. But I think that makes their comments all the more instructive. These are the folks who aren't even "seekers." Why aren't they?
Mark,
Love your point about "exchanging church members." My husband uses the term "swapping hostages."
Good points, Mark and QG.
At that Presbytery converstaion I attended this past week, I noted how many of my friends are unconnected to a church and the question was raised, "What is it that they miss by not going?" I realized that for many of them, including those who spent years as church members, the immeduate response would be, "Nothing much."
But the reporters still irritate me. Imagine similar missives sent from Iraq --we would be insulted on behalf of the Iraqi people.
Very interesting. (Love the bit about swapping hostages, QG.)
I was just amazed that they even thought to do this. My little pocket of the back-water world would never allow something so blatantly - if not honestly - critical of organized religion, into print.
(I was one of the Ship of Fools Mystery Worshippers for a while, but I quit. Why? Because whenever we were out of town on a Sunday, none of us ever wanted to go to church. Heh.)
Great article in The Stranger. I sometimes feel like we are living in different universes -- those who know church and those who don't and truly aren't really even curious.
The "unchurched" who visit us are actually more "de-churched." They once belonged to/worshipped semi-regularly with a congregation but left for good or not so good reasons.
People who are completely "unchurched" really are ignorant of "churchy things" - and I don't use "ignorant" in a mean way. They just don't know. Never heard of a narthex and couldn't care less.
They will never "come to church" in a traditional sense. So what do we do to connect with them? Be different ourselves, maybe.
QG - Thank you very much for this pointer. The article is instructive. I suspect it reflects the experience many people who have no church background would have. I also found that many of our cliches do need to be lambasted, as uncomfortable as that makes us. (The writers were pretty much equal opportunity on that score.)
At the same time, I did find the approach off-putting: ignorance and pre-programed mockery aren't particularly virtuous to my way of thinking. Having said that, given the editorial perspective and audience, I imagine this was both expected, and kind of mild.
I did appreciate the more open-minded approach a couple of writers employed. I'm not sure, but I don't think this reflects so much a difference between churches (though they are obviously different) as it is a product of differences between authors.
Thanks for pointing this out QG. I found the article fascinating and raw.
I love the reference to "swapping hostages" QG - heh.
Oh.My.
That was enlightening. And it was also the most depressing thing I've read in quite a while! Is there anything that would make most of these mocking writers feel even a little positive about what they experienced?
I am ashamed, sad, curious, annoyed...
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