Things I Learned as a Church Visitor

This post has been rolling around my head for a week, and I thought I'd better actually write it down before going back to my church in the morning and forgetting everything I want to say. Last Sunday, Meg Rushing & I took Carol Headen to Nashville to catch her flight to Sydney, Australia, and then had what turned into 10 hours to kill before the Wright's got here from Albania. Lisa Rushing texted us on the way to Nashville & suggested that we try out CrossPoint Church, since they had a service at 1 PM. She & Wayne had visited there once & they thought we'd be fine in our shorts & t-shirts. After having served in the nursery the week before, I was excited about not having to miss a second week of church. Meg wanted to go, too, so we headed over there. After a small detour issue, we found the church & headed inside. I made a lot of observations and learned a few things.

First, if you have been a church employee or involved in church leadership for any length of time, you make a horrible church visitor. You start paying attention to things as soon as you get out of the car: Are the sidewalks clean? Is the landscaping attractive? (Ok, I didn't even look at that, but I had to throw it in for Chuck :) ) Where are the greeters stationed? Are they friendly? How do they do their jobs? What kind of coffee/fellowship area do they have? How do they promote their small groups? Do they make you want to get involved in a group? How do the church members act toward each other? Toward visitors? What's the make up of the worship team? How is the technical production? Do they take up an offering? How? How & when do they do announcements? What is their mission focus? Oh, and very importantly, where are the bathrooms? That, but the way, was the first & only question we actually asked. For the record, they were conveniently located next to the auditorium.

Needless to say, I found myself focused on a lot of details that a first time visitor may not care about, which meant that I needed to get refocused on worship. Once the music started, though, that didn't take long. The band was amazing, and, even though their service is broadcast on tv, or at least the internet (I'm not exactly sure which), it never felt like they were trying to draw attention to themselves. I felt drawn into worship in a way that I haven't experienced in a long time, even when there were no words being sung. For the first time in a long time I wasn't just waiting for the sermon to start, and actually found myself wanting the music to go a bit longer. Don't get me wrong, I love music, & worship that way on my own multiple times a day. It's just that my favorite part of corporate worship is almost always the sermon, and I get impatient to get to it. But I digress. During the music I learned that, even in a big church with a huge stage production, the tech team may still put the wrong words on the screen once (or maybe even three) times. That should be an encouragement to our tech team :)

Third, I realized that it's pretty fun to figure out that you are in a "cool people" church. See, when Lisa told us about Cross Point, I thought the name sounded familiar. Then the pastor came out carrying a round table. I knew right then this was Jon Acuff's church. He had just blogged the week before that, “They’ve got Pete Wilson behind the small round table.” I think Jon Acuff is one of the coolest people out there. When I realized I was at his church, I suddenly felt pretty cool myself :)

The fourth thing I learned was that relationships really do matter when it comes to truly hearing the Word from someone. Most of the time when I am at church, because of the relationship I have with the person coming out to give the message, I find myself immediately prepared to listen and receive whatever message they have to bring. Not that men are infallible & that we don't need to know the Word ourselves to be sure the message is true, but when you know & trust the heart of the messenger, it is easier to readily receive it. At this new church, I found myself sitting back for a few minutes, evaluating this man, his mannerisms & attitude, his connection with the audience, and his humility level before deciding that I could trust his message. While this may not necessarily be right, I think it's a somewhat natural response. I really liked the pastor a lot, and he caused me to think in a new way about the Beattitudes, which is a pretty common passage of scripture. My only disappointment was that it was so short. I had just gotten into the message and was excited for more, and it was over.

The last thing that I learned was that it really is good to go and visit a new church every once in a while, especially in a different city & setting. It gives you a fresh perspective on ministry, mission, & presentation. It gets you out of your box and gives you an opportunity to develop new ideas for your church & ministry. It also makes you thankful for the blessing you have in your friends & family at your home church. I never realized how much I KNOW about my church family that I cannot know in a different place. It was impossible to judge the friendliness of the church, because we had no idea who was a member & who was a visitor. As we looked around the auditorium, I did not know who to go to if I had a question about anything or who was connected to whom. I didn't know who was in a small group or who led them. I didn't have any idea who I would talk to if I wanted more information or would have wanted to be more involved. I didn't know anything about any of the people, their families, their struggles, their hurts or their joys. There was no one to check in with after church to see how they were doing or if they needed anything. There was no way of knowing who might make a good friend. Although there was a great sense of connection with the Lord during the service, there was a great disconnect with the people in the room. It was a lonely feeling, and it made me more aware of what visitors to our church must be feeling. I can go to church tomorrow with a renewed heart for helping to connect them to both God & other people. They need that. And last week I got a taste of just how much.

If you are ever in Nashville, I would highly recommend Cross Point Church. They have 5 services every Sunday, so you have no excuse. But I have to say that I am thankful that tomorrow morning I get to return to worship with my family at Northbrook, with my perspective slightly (and hopefully for the better) changed.