As we work through this list of seven defining moments in the sermon, we have so far thought only about the unseen preparation of all involved and the first impressions before the sermon really starts. Now let’s consider two that are part of the introduction to the message:
3. The motivation to listen – Most sermons will have the same elements: a beginning, a middle, an end, a Bible passage explained and applied, and some illustrative material to help communicate. Now, all of these standard elements can be better or worse. But they tend to be present. However, the motivation to listen is by no means guaranteed. It is not guaranteed from the listener’s side, and it is not guaranteed in the details of the sermon. How could it be missed? Easily. Too many preachers assume that their listeners are interested in Elijah’s encounter with a widow or Paul’s answer to the church’s question. And too many introductions offer something less than motivation.
We can easily settle for familiarity or interest. Familiarity introductions are the ones that refer to something we all experience – you know, going upstairs and forgetting what you went up to get. Everyone smiles and relaxes a bit. Then, the message continues as if that connection is enough. Or interest introductions are the ones that raise eyebrows with an interesting tidbit – you know, that it is impossible to lick your own elbow. Some knew that, some didn’t, some try it, etc. And the message moves on. Familiarity introductions and interesting introductions are probably better than just launching into 1 Kings 19 and its background, but better by far would be an introduction that makes listeners want to hear what is coming.
Inasmuch as you are able, motivate listeners to listen. Robinson used to talk about surfacing a need in your listeners that the passage would then be able to address. Use your introduction to grab their attention, convince them that they need what this passage is going to show them, and win their hearts to be open to you as you lead them into the passage.
4. The overview – At the end of the introduction, it is easy to skip the overview. Generally, you should not skip it. Give people a sense of the shape of the message. We are going to see the problem described, and then the solution. Or Paul gives three truths that we will look at together. Or the passage comes to us in two chunks, verses 1-5 and verses 6-9. Or we will see the transformation we need is coming, the triumph over death is certain, and the therefore that changes how we live – the transformation, the triumph, and the therefore. The overview can be detailed or a very high-level glimpse, but if it is missing, the listeners are slightly in the dark as to where the message is headed. If your message is an inductive shape, then make sure the question that is going to be answered is clear: what is the critical ingredient that we need if we are to have a ministry like the master?
Feel free to comment about introductions – what works well? What do you hear that doesn’t connect or help the listener? Introductions are critical to the effectiveness of a sermon. Next time, we will look at two more defining moments in the sermon.
As you preach, there are numerous defining moments. That is, pivotal decisions or moments that will multiply the impact of the sermon. The whole sermon matters, of course. You can’t expect one great line to do great work when it is packaged in fluff. But while you work on the whole sermon, remember that there are some defining moments that could make or break it.
1. The unseen preparation (yours and theirs!) – Whatever happens during the sermon itself is really just the final part of a process. There has been a whole lot of unseen preparation before the moment of delivery. Of course, there have been the ups and downs of sermon preparation for you, the preacher. The prayer, the study, the wrestling with word choices, the hunting for illustrative material, the interruptions, the storm, and the calm inside you and in your study. The journey to the pulpit may have been arduous, or somehow serene, but hopefully God has been at work in you before he will work through you. And I am only describing the last few days, but God has been at work for years. However, the sermon is not just about the preacher. How has God been stirring the listeners? Providential circumstances, carefully timed conversations, quiet questions inside, or overwhelming challenges without. It is not unusual for a sermon to touch a nerve that was only sensitized in the preceding days. “How did the preacher know that about me?” Often, the preacher didn’t. But someone did. It is helpful to remember that a lifetime of preparation is brought into the sermon from all sides, and only God can be aware of that, let alone influential in it!
2. The first moments of the introduction – It is hard to overstate the importance of the first moments. I don’t mean the introduction. I mean the first impressions. Do you seem comfortable, or nervous, or indifferent, or agitated? Will listeners get the sense that you have something to say that is worth their focus and time to listen? Will people who have never heard you before feel welcomed and engaged? Will regular listeners sense that you are well prepared, or will they get the sense that you are somehow “off” this week? Remember, humans are wired relationally. When you sit at a table in a restaurant, you know whether you like the server before you have a chance to evaluate your first interaction. Sometime, watch a video of yourself. Watch up until your first word. Prayerfully and conversationally evaluate (that is, ask God what he thinks, and ask someone else what they notice – don’t just trust your own perspective). Then watch the first couple of sentences, and evaluate again.
We will continue this list of defining moments in your sermon next time, but feel warmly invited to comment with any that are on your mind!
There are multiple defining moments in the sermon preparation process. We have thought about starting the process, shifting from passage study to message formation, becoming conscious of who will be listening, and the unplanned interruptions that seem to prevent a smooth preparation. There is one more defining moment left. It is one to add if it doesn’t happen naturally:
7. The realization of insufficiency. You want to be a good steward of your opportunity to preach. You desire to give your best, both in terms of exegetical rigour, and pastoral sensitivity in sermon crafting. And perhaps the process has allowed better than normal focus, with more clear hours for preparation than you expected. Maybe nothing broke at home, no hospital visits were necessary, and everything was unusually peaceful and supportive along the way. Will you go into preaching feeling confident in your preparation, your skill, and your work of sermonic art? I hope not. When we feel we have “the best of sermons” then we tend to discover the false promise of self-sufficiency. If God has not brought you to humble dependency through a log jam, or through an interruption, or through years of preaching experience, then it is totally acceptable to bring yourself to the place of total dependency. Some combination of “apart from you, I can do nothing” prayer content along with a flat-on-your-face prayer posture is highly appropriate. One of my teachers always prayed that he had a stick but needed God to come through as he threw it on the ground. You want to be the most prepared preacher possible, but you must preach with a profound sense of your dependence on God.
What other defining moments do you recognize in your sermon preparation process?
Okay, here is a bonus one as I reflect on the list:
Bonus: The recognition of the coherence of the passage. Thinking back to the study of the passage, it is critical to arrive at the recognition that the passage holds together. It is easy to skip past this once you start to see some points that will preach. But actually, for your message to feel coherent, you need to recognise that the passage is also coherent. What unifies it? How does it hold together? How do the points and details relate to each other? Assume the Bible writer was not jumbled or scattered in his thinking, and keep thinking until you can see how it is a single unit of thought.
While the whole preparation process will shape your message, some defining moments will fundamentally change the outcome of the process. We started with two related to starting preparation. Now let’s think about two that tie into the transition between passage study and message formation:
3. The decision to transition from passage study to message formation. The first half of the preparation process focuses on understanding the passage. The second half involves formulating and writing a message. The shift between these two phases is critically important. If you shift too early, then you will be working on the message without really grasping the meaning of the passage. If you shift too late, then you will have plenty of exegetical insight to share, but little time to craft a message that lands in real life. Do you tend to fall in one direction or the other? It is hard to see a lack of understanding in the mirror – we all tend to think we have a good grip on a passage when it may only be a superficial sense of the meaning. Or you may be in a rut of sharing exegetical nuggets without crafting a message that is shaped to speak into real life. And some, sad to say, neither know the joy of being gripped by a passage, nor the pleasure of crafting a sermon that hits home – they just use a passage as a launch point for some standard favourite content. If that could be you, then it may be time for some candid conversations with some listeners, and for radical surgery on your ministry. It will be worth it.
4. The realization of who will be listening. At one level, this moment is fairly straightforward, as long as it happens. That is to say, after studying the passage to understand the author’s meaning as accurately as possible, then you consciously introduce your listeners into your thinking as you move to crafting the sermon for their benefit. You don’t want to be thinking too much about your listeners when you are studying the passage, because your concern is the original audience of the text. Neither do you want to not be thinking about your listeners when shaping the message, because your concern has to be for them as the audience of the sermon. That moment of introducing conscious consideration of your listeners should be a standard point in the process every time (and essentially the same moment as number 3 above). But then there will be some sermon-specific moments in this category too. You might realise how the message could hit very close to home for someone in your congregation. You might be told that a certain person is going to be present. You might be at church when someone walks in that you were not expecting (and you realise your message requires some tweaking for their sake – either to be more accessible, less provocative, or whatever.)
As this list continues to build, what defining moments do you recognize in your sermon preparation?
As you prepare your sermon, there are numerous defining moments. That is to say, pivotal decisions that will impact the essential nature of the sermon. The whole process is important, and every little detail of your preparation will build the character of the message. But the defining moments will fundamentally change the outcome of your process. Therefore, it is helpful to be especially aware of these key points in the process.
Here are seven defining moments in your sermon preparation:
1. The choosing of the passage. If we genuinely believe in expository preaching, then the choice of passage will always be a key moment in our preparation. Why? Because that passage will be the boss of the message. We cannot say whatever we want using any passage. Some preachers do. We must not. If it is a series from a book, then the moment will primarily be the selection of the series, although the length of the next section to be covered will also matter. If it is a one-off message, then the choice of the passage matters for the content of the sermon. And also the timing of that choice will matter for how much time we can give to the preparation. Some preachers make a good choice, but they make it so late that the preparation is adversely impacted by lack of time.
2. The decision to start preparing. If you have a tendency to procrastinate, and many of us do, then deciding to start preparing is important. If your routine is established and it works well, then this may not be a key point for you. However, if you find that life often presses in and the week is often eaten up before you even start the process, then this point is for you. Decide to start early. Just the first step. For me, that means pasting the passage into a document and starting to recognize the shape of the passage. Once you have started, even if only just, then the brain starts to collect and sort exegetical information, and the heart starts to bow to the truth of the text. Some helpfully choose to get started, even if only just, more than a week before preaching. Some even take some time to get started on every series, and even every passage, months before the time comes to preach.
In the next post we will continue the list of seven defining moments in the preparation of a sermon.
The most famous literary description of love is surely 1 Corinthians 13. It has been read aloud at countless weddings, and yet, it was not written for a wedding. It was written for a church. Actually, it was written for a struggling and divided church in Corinth. This was a church that was splintered by factions, by immature Christians flaunting their supposed superiority, and by a whole host of interpersonal tensions and issues. This was the church into which Paul unleashed “the love chapter!”
The chapter sits at the heart of a section addressing the right use of spiritual gifts in the church. It begins by underlining the necessity of love (v 1-3) and ends with the never-ending reality of love (v 8-13). And at the heart of the chapter, in verses 4-7, we find a familiar and poetic depiction of the nature of love. In just four verses, Paul offers fifteen descriptions of love.
Their world, like ours, was a confusing melee of ideas when it came to love. There was romance, passion (appropriately marital and many harmful alternatives), family, and friendship. I don’t know whether they used “love” to speak of food and sport, quite like we do in English, but let’s not imagine their culture was any less confused than ours. In the face of that confusion, Paul offered a confrontation with God’s kind of love.
What do we do with a list like this? Our tendency is to see it as a behavioural checklist and to consider it as a suggestion for greater effort on our part. The problem is, not only do we all fall short of God’s perfect love, but we are unable to self-generate genuine godly love. We can only love, John tells us, because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). So, while it may look like a list of descriptions, actually, Paul wrote it as a list of verbs. This is love dressed up and going to work!
So, as we consider this love in action, we should let it confront our own areas of lack, but also point us to the only one who perfectly lived out God’s love in this world. Let this list point you to Jesus, and then let his love flow more freely in your local church setting. As we look to Christ’s love, it will stir Christlike love in us. And when the body of Christ starts to look like Christ, we can pray for the church to have an impact like Christ!
1. Paul begins with a basic foundation:Love gives. He begins his list with two positive statements: love is patient and love is kind (v 4a). Patience here speaks of having a long-fuse with other people, giving them space and time, instead of flaring up at the first opportunity. Patience is partnered with kindness, which gives of our own usefulness for the higher good of the other. A loving church is a place where grace infiltrates every relationship. Grace for the weaknesses of others, and grace that gives of ourselves to build them up. Love gives.
2. Paul zeroes in on the Corinthian core issue:Love is not selfish. His list shifts into a sequence of nine points, most of which are negative. The central thought in this list of nine points is like a summary of the whole section: love is not self-seeking (v 5b). Ever since the Garden of Eden, we humans have been largely unaware of how self-oriented our hearts now are, by nature. Our selfishness is built-in from birth, but it is only because our nature is fallen. It seems so normal to seek our own good, but God’s design is love that is not self-seeking. (Look at the Trinity for the greatest example of this: how consistently does the Father lovingly honour the Son, and vice versa? Our God is a God who lovingly and selflessly lifts up the other, and the good news is that can even include us!)
Before and after that central thought, Paul offers two sets of four descriptions of love. When there are differences between us, love does not self-elevate (v 4b-5a). It does not envy what others have, longing for self to be satisfied by that salary, that house, that spouse, etc. Neither does love boast, trying to make the other person long for my ability, possessions, or strengths. Love is not arrogant, puffing up self to push others down. And love does not disregard accepted standards of behaviour to elevate self and so disregard and dishonour others. Some versions have “love is not rude” at this point. That might bring to mind inappropriate vocabulary or noises at the dining table. But Paul’s word goes beyond the odd little social faux pas. It is the same word used for unnatural sexual relations in Romans 1. It is that casting off of restraint and acceptable norms, because, well, because I want to . . . so I should. Actually, love wouldn’t.
And when there are problems between us, love does not self-protect (v 5c-6). Love is not easily angered, that is, it is not irritable and touchy. If we take any of Paul’s negatives and pursue the opposite, we will discover a painful loneliness. Now, there is a place in the Bible for legitimate provocation. Jesus was provoked by death at Lazarus’ tomb, and Paul was provoked in spirit by the idols of Athens. Luther was provoked by a false view of God and so launched the Reformation, and Wilberforce was so provoked he sought to end the slave trade. Maybe today many of us have grown too nice before the provocations of society, but perhaps still too easily angered at little personal slights in church life. Love is not easily angered in church fellowship. When people say and do wrong things, love lets the grievances go instead of inscribing them in our internal memory ledger of grudges against others. And when those people that grate on us turn out to be sinners in some way or other, love does not rejoice in their sin. Rather, it rejoices in what is true – God’s love for them, their position in God’s family, their gifting, and their key role in our lives.
3. Paul points them beyond any notion of personal ability becausetrue love relies on God (v 7). Undoubtedly, Paul is offering a literary flourish to complete the list. The last four descriptions add the word “always” or “all things.” It feels good to the ear, but if you consider it carefully, it feels impossible to the heart. How can I always protect? The idea is to cover, like the seal on a ship that keeps all water out. One commentator describes the idea of “throwing a blanket of silence over the failings of others.” Obviously, there are legal and moral exceptions to this. But as a general rule, when I am annoyed, provoked, antagonized, and bothered, love will keep that sin hidden from others who do not need to know about it. Paul points upwards to God – love always trusts and always hopes. That is not easy. And back to the struggles here below again, it always perseveres. That kind of persistent endurance of inter-church tensions can easily take us beyond ourselves.
Paul’s great list is a bit like the Law of Sinai. A wonderful revelation of what is right and good, but beyond our ability to keep. And so, let 1 Corinthians 13 not only confront your struggle to love like Jesus. Let it also point you to Jesus. We can only love at all because God has first loved us. May our hearts be so captivated by his love that our churches increasingly look like the body of Christ! We can only live this life in the flesh by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us.
4 Love is patient, love is kind.
~
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
~
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
In our church, we have just completed an eight-week series in 1 Peter. Here are some brief reflections that may be helpful:
1. This epistle is relevant. I know that is not breaking news to you, but it bears underlining. 1 Peter speaks to people that felt like oppressed outsiders in the society in which they lived. It did then, and it does now.
2. Suffering may be necessary. We have lived through decades of relatively little suffering, but times seem to be changing. Suffering is not permanent, “now for a little while.” And suffering may be part of the plan, “if necessary.” In 1 Peter 1:6 we are introduced to the possibility that suffering is not the result of bad luck, but divine providence. As we come towards Easter we have the ultimate example of deliberate and planned suffering.
3. Biblical background helps. There is the situational background of the readers, forcibly moved from Rome and repatriated to these five regions of modern Turkey. There is the historical background of Peter’s life and experience. Keeping that in mind, as he would have done, is helpful to shine a light on his call to be prepared (3:15), to stay humble and to resist the devil (5:6-9), etc. Then there is the textual background of Peter’s biblical awareness as he wrote. For instance, the situation behind Psalm 34 seems to be shining a light on much of Peter’s writing in this epistle.
4. Difficult texts still have simple points. Preaching the end of 1 Peter 3 and the start of 1 Peter 4 is not easy territory to navigate. There is the timing, location and content of Jesus’ preaching in 3:19; then the reference to Noah in 3:20; followed by the awkward reference to baptism in 3:21. It is exegetical difficulty piled on exegetical difficulty. I chose to give some minutes to explain that complexity, but not before I emphasised the simple point of this section: Jesus suffered and Jesus was victorious. It helps to keep a clear picture in mind when trying to make sense of the complex.
5. The letter has a strong DNA. God’s pattern is for suffering now to be followed by glory later. It was true for Jesus, it was true for Peter’s readers then, and it is true for Peter’s readers now. Suffering and then glory: this idea works its way through the entire letter.
6. Variation can help a series work well. We had a team of preachers on this series. One of the messages was preached in first-person. It came in the middle of the series and really helped the series to not feel monotonous in style. Different preachers helped the series, although it was important to make sure we were preaching a coherent series.
7. Non-Suffering forms of Christianity lead to harm. We seem to live between two extremes. One is the fatalistic idea that disaster is coming no matter what. The other is the idealistic idea that we should always be healthy, and wealthy and travel in a private jet. What is the healthy middle ground? It is not a gentle form of health and wealth – that is, things should generally go well for us if we simply trust, pray and obey. Many Christians seem to want to live with their basic orientation towards good circumstances. No, the reality is that we live in a fallen world filled with suffering. So let’s turn from gentle forms of health and wealth, and let’s engage a fallen and sin-marred world with our hope reaching out beyond this suffering to the glory to come. Our hope is not in our experience but in the character of our good God and his plan.
8. 1 Peter should prepare us for difficulty, but stir us to trust! Every problem we face in this world is a problem that exists within creation. 1 Peter urges us to look beyond this realm to the eternal realities. We look outside of this realm to the God who is so much bigger, the God who cares for us. “The dog bit me,” ~ yes, but God is bigger. “But it was a big dog,” ~ so what, God is bigger. “But it was a lion,” ~ it doesn’t matter, God is bigger. “Actually it was a killer whale.” ~ Ok, but God is still bigger than any problem we can face in this realm. What’s more, he already came and suffered, and is now sitting in victory. So we can be humble, be watchful, and be hopeful. We get to stand in the true grace of God whatever may come our way.
There are plenty more thoughts generated by two months in 1 Peter. But hopefully this list is a motivational starter for now…
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I have a series of videos on 1 Peter 2:1-10 that focus on the interpretation phase of Bible study. You can find them in this playlist:
When churches think about sharing the gospel with visitors, we can easily jump straight to outreach strategies and event planning. But here are seven ways to cultivate a culture for greater gospel growth in the church – foundational pieces that need to be put in place:
1. Gospel Clarity – Make sure your church is clear on the gospel, consistently clear. We can easily fall into using Christian language in a sloppy way. The gospel is good news, not vague news. So do not settle for a gathering of people that are united by church tradition, or who know how to behave a certain way and dress like they belong. Speak about the transforming power of meeting Jesus and following Jesus. Present the good news of who Jesus is and what Jesus did for us on the cross. Feature the importance of the resurrection as a historical fact and the basis of genuine faith. Explain what it means to respond, to repent, to receive, etc. Do not assume a vague gospel agreement in preaching, or in conversation. Too many churches rely on a specific event and a specific speaker to give a gospel message. There is a place for special events and overtly evangelistic speakers, but the church should have the good news of Jesus in its DNA, permeating its culture.
2. Loving Community – The church is not just another social club in a society full of social clubs. The church is a family that does not make sense. Why do these people love each other like this? There should be a level of love, concern, practical support, patience, graciousness, and warmth that is genuine and profoundly different from any social club in society. A healthy church will grow in diversity. Everyone will not be the same. Obviously, if a town is full of very similar people, then that will impact the church. But few towns are! There should be diversity of race, of class background, of education level, etc. Then the unity of believers in a church community will be magnetically attractive to visitors who don’t experience that kind of family warmth anywhere else – in many cases, not even at home. This takes more than labeling to be genuine. It is not enough to say from the front, “we are a church family.” It has to be true. Live it out at the leadership level and encourage mutual care wherever you can. For example, don’t overcrowd the schedule with meetings so that people don’t have space in the week to connect relationally.
3. Obstacle Removal – Will visitors feel awkward? The church is a very different subculture than the world around. It will feel different, but it does not need to feel unnecessarily awkward. In our church, we have often said that we only want visitors stumbling over the gospel and Christians loving one another. We do not want them feeling like they do not know where to go, what is happening, if their children are safe, if they will be embarrassed, if they are welcome, etc. When I was in seminary, in one class, we were required to attend a religious service of a different religion. The benefit was huge. Most of us had always gone to church so it just felt normal. But thrown into a different subculture, we became profoundly self-conscious. It taught us to try and imagine coming to church as an outsider. What could we do to make that experience warm and welcoming, rather than starkly awkward?
4. Whole Experience – What does a visitor experience when they park their car or arrive at the venue? Do they know where to go? Are they welcomed and introduced to children’s workers if they have children, or helped into conversation with someone who will be sensitive to their being first timers? Will the service itself be explained in non-jargon terms? Will they know if they are supposed to stand for singing and when? Will there perhaps be a simple explanation of why Christians sing at all? Will the location of Bible readings be given in Bible code, or will there be a page number given if people are using the church Bibles? Will “normal people” who are not officially welcoming guests be genuinely friendly too?
5. Assume Visitors – When we started our church, we had a period of several months where we were learning how this new church was going to function. We did not actively promote the church at that time. There was no website, no signage, etc. People were welcome, but our focus was on getting used to functioning in a new way. Every week we opened the service as if guests were present. The small number of believers would sometimes look around with a grin, fully aware that there were no guests present. Why would we do that? Because they needed to grow in confidence that when they did bring someone along, it would be a safe environment. We don’t want our people hesitant to invite others to church. It can be risky to a friendship if you invite a colleague and their experience is poor. So, the experience has to be consistently trustworthy. A number of people in our church had past church experiences where some weeks the preaching was guest sensitive, but other weeks when you would hope no guests were present. We had to work to earn trust and cultivate a culture where guests could come any week.
6. Every Service – Every service is a gospel service. Obviously, there are sometimes church business meetings that are restricted to members. But a normal church gathering on a Sunday (presumably) has the potential to attract visitors. They could be there because they are visiting family members. They could have found the church online. They could be looking for a church, or passing a couple of hours in a one-off visit. But the point is, we should not be wishing they would come back in four weeks’ time when there is a special guest-friendly gospel service. It is possible to make every gathering guest friendly, and it is possible to make every sermon relevant to everyone.
7. Driving Values – Is the church driven by tradition, by the preferences of influential people, or by defined values? If the church is driven by denominational tradition, then there will be plenty of opportunity for what is normal to actually be strange to first-time visitors. At least explain it but consider changing it if necessary. If the church is driven by the preferences of influential people, then there will be plenty of ways in which the church is quirky for guests. It is harder to explain an eclectic set of church features when they are present because of someone sitting in row three. Changing this internal power dynamic will be necessary for genuine gospel growth! As much as possible, seek to define the values of the church and aspire to be a church that God will trust with newcomers and new believers. The whole congregation may find it uncomfortable to be consistently and genuinely welcoming to others. By identifying its value, the leadership can then model buy-in and help the whole church take the steps necessary to live out that church value.
God may bless outreach strategies and special events whenever you implement them. But my sense is that deliberately cultivating a church culture ready for gospel growth in these seven ways will prepare the church for greater fruit from outreach and special events. What would you add to the list?
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Click on this image to find the playlist of Enjoying the Word videos from Cor Deo:
Why don’t guests return? This is a question most church leaders will ask themselves. It is encouraging to see visitors come into the church, but it can be discouraging when the vast majority seem to only be one-time visitors. Here is a list of possible reasons that may be helpful as you evaluate what is happening in your church. Some churches run guest services every week for years with hardly any outsiders ever coming in – that is a different situation that will also benefit from honest evaluation. But if your church gets lots of one-time visitors, what could be contributing to their reticence to return?
1. It is not the church for them. Not every visitor is new to church world. Some will be new to the area, or leaving a local church and considering their options. Your church might not be what they are looking for, and that might be perfectly alright. Your church should not be trying to attract and keep every possible churchgoer. They might want a legitimately different type of church, and you do not want to become that type of church in order to attract them. Or they might be troublemakers that continually need to find a new church to get their hooks into, and hopefully, your church might seem too healthy for them to be able to influence in the negative way they prefer. For good reasons or bad reasons, let’s recognize that no church is ideal for every visitor. And some visitors are just visiting their family members. Change whatever you like, they will not be joining a church that is hundreds of miles from their home!
2. It is not a friendly church. It is so hard to sense this when you are in a church. When you walk in, people smile, people talk to you, etc. But what about the visitor? I am amazed at how unfriendly some churches are. No conversation, no welcome, no friendly questions, no clarity on where to go or what is happening with the children. Some churches are also effectively unfriendly by being awkwardly friendly – putting visitors in the spotlight is not helpful. Don’t ask visitors to stand up and feel awkward, it doesn’t help. And don’t expect them to just enjoy the service and return without any meaningful connection with other humans – they might, but it would not be normal. If church culture is new to them, then look for ways to make them feel comfortable, don’t just underline their awkwardness.
3. It is too much of a mystery. The sub-culture of a local church is very alien to some visitors. If they come from a similar church, then they already know the language and rituals, but if they are new to church it could be like a foreign country to them. If they spend their time guessing when to stand at the start of a song, guessing where a Bible reference is without any page number to help them, guessing when they are supposed to say something out loud with everyone else, guessing how long the service will go on for, etc. then their experience will be draining.
4. The children did not have a good time. If a family comes, then every voice in that family matters. But some voices can be louder than others. If a parent feels uneasy about the children’s program for any reason, that will be a loud voice in their decision making. Does this church look after the children? Are they safe? Is it clean? And the children’s voice will speak loudly too. If they loved it and made friends, they will push to return. If they didn’t, then parents will probably keep looking rather than try to convince them. The children’s ministry of your church matters – whether it is three volunteers in a room or a purpose-built facility with paid staff.
5. The environment was offputting. Was it easy to find the church? Was it easy to park? Was it easy to find your way in? Did you feel safe? Was it easy to find seating (the front row does not count)? Was the atmosphere before and after conducive to conversation and connection? Did the place have a strange smell? Was it warm enough? There are so many details that can have a bearing on the suitability of a church facility. Whether you have your own building or are renting the space, you need to somehow see it through the eyes of a first-timer. Ask family members who visit what they noticed. When people keep coming, ask them, before they get used to everything, what they noticed their first week.
6. The service needs to make sense. We thought about some elements of mystery in point 3 above. People will be drained trying to work out what is going on. But there is another way the service needs to make sense too. The elements of the service need to be explained and need to fit with the experience as a whole. If the style of the church is somewhat contemporary and appropriately warm (not flippant, but somewhat informal or casual), then it doesn’t make sense to have an overbearing pipe organ to lead the sung worship. And there probably needs to be some consistency between the size of the gathering, the quality of the music, the standard of presentation from the front, etc. It might be fun to hear “quirky Quentin” mess up the notices at the start of the service for people who know him, but for a visitor, his weird manner may be off-putting (especially if it isn’t a cosy group of thirty friends like it might have been when Quentin started “doing the notices” – a church phrase, by the way). Actually, the exact style of music or format of service is probably not as important as the consistency between the size of the church, the quality of the music (whatever style is used), and level of participation. A professional quality band with a congregation that doesn’t seem to care does not make sense. Neither does poor music in a significant-sized gathering.
7. The preaching didn’t connect. The preaching could fit into what was said in point 6 above, but let’s place the sermon in its own point. It really does matter. People will join a church because of the preaching, and they will leave a church because of the preaching. Therefore visitors will stick or move on because of the preaching too. If the manner and style is too lofty, too academic, too angry, or too affected, then there will be a disconnect with the listeners. If the manner and style is too flippant, too humourous, too desperate to sound relevant, or too weak on Bible, then there will be a disconnect with some listeners. Can they follow what is being said? Does it feel like they are being pastorally fed from the Scriptures? Does it lift their gaze away from themselves and point them to God’s goodness in Christ? Unbelievers motivated to find the truth, or believers starving for good food, will be drawn or pushed away by what they hear during the preaching segment of the service.
Ultimately, we cannot cherry-pick our visitors, nor determine who will choose to settle in our church. Jesus is the one who promised to build his church, and he is still doing that. But let’s evaluate our churches and make sure we are not adding any unnecessary barriers for guests that come along. It does not have to be all about the guest. But if we never consider their experience at all, we shouldn’t be surprised if we seldom see them again.
Biblical Preaching 