On occasion I’m asked where my ideas for blog posts come from, and honestly they come from a variety of sources. Many are based on blogs, articles, and books I read. Some are reflections on training events or conferences I’ve attended. Several have been grounded in my own experiences as a local church pastor. A few come to mind during my early morning runs, as I think, pray and reflect on life and ministry. This week’s post came about as I was on a run while spending time with family in Dallas.
I was out for a pre-dawn run in a housing development which bordered a small pond. I’m sure there are seasons when that area is ripe with mosquitos. My suspicions were verified when I ran by a house equipped with a bug zapper on the front porch. There it sat, bathing the area with its signature blue glow and popping sound as flying insects made their way to their demise, attracted by that same blue light.
For some reason, this scene brought our fascination with attractional church to mind. For those unfamiliar with this term, attractional church is a particular strategy or mindset that is fixated with getting people to come to our church buildings. Think of it as a “if we build it, they will come” mindset, whatever it may be. So we spend countless hours and significant portions of our budgets on the latest technology, outdoor digital signs, music, coffee, events and programming all in the hopes that what we offer will get people to cross the thresholds of our front doors. These attempts have magnified since the Covid-19 pandemic has taken its toll on attendance and many churches have not rebounded as they thought they might.
So what does a bug zapper have to do with the attractional church? Stay with me here, it may be a stretch, but it was early in the morning when I had this thought. The bug zapper is definitely dangerous to the insect that is attracted to it and a church that is not attuned to those outside the church can be dangerous to people who may be attracted. When we are not trained and ready to receive guests, we can do more harm to the individual than we intend to. Hospitality is critical. In my own experience of visiting churches, I have been ignored and treated rudely and would definitely not return. Often these encounters just reinforce people’s negative opinions of the Church and ensure they will not visit any church in the future. In addition to the above many churches, while they may not admit it, only want to attract people in order to replenish their numbers, their bank accounts and their standing committees, none of which has to do with the Church’s mission of making disciples.
So, what would it look like if the time, energy, and resources we are spending on trying to get people to come to us were leveraged to go where the people are already gathering, outside our four walls. What if we took the time to get to know our communities, our “mission zones,” and build relationships with the people who are there, with no strings attached; with one expectation that they will ever come to our building. Relationships are the foundational building blocks of discipleship. This is exactly the approach Jesus modeled. He spent 90% of his ministry outside the walls of the Temple and synagogues and among the people, the people the religious establishment were ignoring, judging and shunning. He gathered in homes and shared meals with people, stood on lakeshores and hillsides to proclaim God’s love and told stories while walking along with his own disciples.
So what about your church? What do you do to prepare the people within your congregation to receive new people? More importantly, how much time, energy and resources do you spend out in your community getting to know and building relationships with the people you encounter?