Confucian Mormon Buddhist
Member
So, this one time I was going to a little Pentecostal church, a tiny storefront one that didn't tend to get a lot of guests. Usually these guys were great at conducting a smooth service, the pastor held them to a high standard and they were excellent at greeting people, running the projector, all that stuff.
They got to working on the church building, though, and eventually that required stripping out the gear. When it came time to sing I realized the problem this posed. In most churches, you'd be singing out a hymn book, or you'd be singing from a projector, or flyer. This one didn't have any of that stuff.
Now, being such a small church, they had relatively few visitors and most of the people there were old-timers. I was new enough, though, that I hadn't memorized all of the songs, and could do little but murmur along. After the service was over, I told the pastor of the problem. He listened, but seemed like he hadn't seen the problem to begin with.
I found the experience a bit thought-provoking. I thought as how terribly that would come across to any guest, if they'd had one that night. From the perspective of the church folks there, though, they probably had this kind of bubble and didn't really expect anybody to come in. Plus, with the construction, it may have just been forgotten. As it happened, I stopped going afterwards (though not because of that), so I never saw if they actually did print off lyrics.
So if there's a lesson in this (boring) story, it's that you should sometimes think of how your church is run from the perspective of an outsider. Otherwise, you might be doing things which are driving people off.
They got to working on the church building, though, and eventually that required stripping out the gear. When it came time to sing I realized the problem this posed. In most churches, you'd be singing out a hymn book, or you'd be singing from a projector, or flyer. This one didn't have any of that stuff.
Now, being such a small church, they had relatively few visitors and most of the people there were old-timers. I was new enough, though, that I hadn't memorized all of the songs, and could do little but murmur along. After the service was over, I told the pastor of the problem. He listened, but seemed like he hadn't seen the problem to begin with.
I found the experience a bit thought-provoking. I thought as how terribly that would come across to any guest, if they'd had one that night. From the perspective of the church folks there, though, they probably had this kind of bubble and didn't really expect anybody to come in. Plus, with the construction, it may have just been forgotten. As it happened, I stopped going afterwards (though not because of that), so I never saw if they actually did print off lyrics.
So if there's a lesson in this (boring) story, it's that you should sometimes think of how your church is run from the perspective of an outsider. Otherwise, you might be doing things which are driving people off.