We were prepared to be the first time church visitor in our new home town of Port St. Lucie Florida.
The church planting team we are a part of has taken a holiday break, so our family was free on a Sunday morning to be that first time visitor and experience once again the challenge of being a new mover Christian family looking for a church home.
It is another visit in our series on church shopping.
We visited one church 6 times over the course of 3 months since our move to our new place in Florida.
It started off pretty good. They made a really good first impression.
But we dropped out.
We stopped going.
[Read more…] about Confessions of a Church Shopper – Can I make a friend?
In the summer of 2014, our family moved to central Florida due to an expansion of our ministry’s vision and reach.
I wrote up our experience of the first church we visited. [Read more…] about What you can learn from our church shopping experience
A year ago, I posted this question to the EvangelismCoach.org Facebook page.
“Should we invite unsaved friends to church?” Give a Yes or No, and then give a reason.
The answers were pretty divided between Yes and No, with some strong opinions:
It’s not my point here to drift into a full theology of the nature of the church, but to focus on the vocabulary of the question: what do I mean when I use the word church in this question?
I mean the gathered assembly, whether it meets in a high school gym, music hall, or a beautiful church building with stain glass windows and movable chairs.
I worked through the book of Acts to see if I could draw principles about the early gatherings of Christians before the church was more organized.
Since many of you are new subscribers to our weekly newsletter, you may not know these exist in the archives. Dig around and check out the evidence yourself.
I invite my unsaved friends.
I’ve been inviting my unsaved friends to church for so long that it is part of my teaching. I teach on
Many of our church hospitality practices are based on the assumption that unsaved persons will be in our church, no matter how that visitor got there. I’ve never questioned it.
I know many people who came to Christ because a friend invited them to church. Here is one story. After a few weeks of hearing the preaching of the word, my friend surrendered his life to Christ. It is possible that without that invitation, he may have remained lost. It is possible that God could have brought him salvation by some other method. My friend was invited to church and came to faith in Christ.
If the church is responsible for evangelism, then it seems that some of it’s meetings will be intentionally evangelistic.
It also seems to me that the church would teach and train church members for evangelism where they live.
We see Paul’s concern for the unbeliever in the midst of the assembly.
First Corinthians 14:23 Paul wants the assembly of the church to be sensitive to the unbeliever in their midst:
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” – 1 Corinthians 14:22-25
Paul assumes that there exists a possibility of unbelievers in the midst of the assembly.
There is no indication of how that unbeliever got there, nor is that the point of text.
But what is clear is a concern for the visitor. That reflects a strong ethic that should reflect in your church hospitality practices.
Answer this question in the comments below.
For what reasons should we invite the unsaved to our church?
One consistent question on church hospitality processes that I receive is how to follow up on your first time church visitors. Questions like:
Another question I’ve received is related to the data management side of handling visitor contact information.
How can church management software help our visitors become new members?
Today’s guest post answers that question. It is from Leah Merrill, Software Analyst for Capterra, where she specializes in helping church administrators find church management software. [Read more…] about 3 Ways Church Management Software Can Help Your Church Visitors Become Members
I was an associate pastor in a small church. We had to carefully manage every dime received through the offering plate.
During lean seasons, we had to question every expense in the budget.
Sometimes we’d question the value of spending money on coffee and snacks after the morning service. Our pastor prided himself on his thrifty Scottish heritage and often looked for ways to not spend money if there was no value received.
Should our church have spent precious gifts from our members on little food items to have a small fellowship time after church?
Was it worth the effort to buy napkins, cups, plates?
Did making coffee make any difference?
Did the pastry matter? [Read more…] about Why your small church should have a reception after your service
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