I had a few errands to run during lunchtime today and one of them was a carwash. My first stop took longer than expected so I was rushing and after pulling into the carwash lot I made a mistake and ended up in the express lane. I read the signs, but I still pulled forward because the lane was empty.

Well, the express lane is…different! I have been to this carwash many times yet I always get out of my car and let the worker take my car through. In the express lane you stay in your car. The guy waved me to move forward. Too me this was scary because it was so new. And truthfully it is not what I had in mind. The guy walked up, I rolled down my window and stated “I think I got in the wrong lane. How does this work?” Unfortunately after 5 years in the Midwest I now only speak gringo so even though I had a simple question there was a huge language issue. It was not until the third person came up to my car that I was able to communicate. They of course, were able to talk to each other. But not with me! Partly because I was in a hurry, partly because I was frustrated with myself for making the wrong choice, and partly because no habla espanol I felt really uncomfortable. So much so I wanted to flee and if there was a way that I could have easily drove through without causing trouble I probably would have.

I started to think about first time visitors. Many find church because of circumstances that resulted from one bad choice after another. I know I can speak christianease and I always feel a little uncomfortable walking into a new church. Imagine someone brand spanking new walking in and not knowing the language. It has to be crazy scary. And even though they are scared and want to run they will go through with the ceremony out of social pressure.

When I had a music ministry that played all the clubs on the Sunset Strip it was a great outreach for people who might never walk into a church. I would invite friends from college and AA meetings yet many never showed. When I asked they said “we tried but the pamphlet people scared us away”, and I could not stop the people who were “over saved” from standing outside trying to get a sales quota of salvations. Even at a cool outreach and a cool location we freak people out, and they run!

I don’t have any answers, but this I know! People dressed in really bad Batman and Spiderman costumes standing in front of Mann’s Chinese on Hollywood Blvd draw more new visitors on Sunday morning than most churches.

If you think your church is making an impact. Wake up! We are not even coming close!

I know this is somewhat of a repeat but if a first time visitor does not feel welcome, they may add to your salvation count, but they will not truthfully experience Jesus. God is so much more than a sinner’s prayer, a free bible, a free pastry while meeting the pastor’s wife, and a superficial commitment of love.

The way we did church yesterday is clearly no longer working today yet we are so stuck on past rituals and protocol we can’t change. Or should I say – WON’T CHANGE!

As long as we make people feel uncomfortable and continue breading “over saved” Christians we will continue to drive people away!

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 9:18 pm and is filed under My Big Mouth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.