Do you have any thoughts about how to try and get new visitors into our churches? I serve on a lay committee that works on that topic, but we are struggling to make progress.
It’s hard to know without your congregation’s “fingerprint”. Each congregation is unique and there isn’t a one size fits all approach because there are so many factors to consider - location, birth rates, area demographics, age profile, competitors, schooling, service style, preaching effectiveness, and so on. But it does give us some ideas about potentially developing a matrix to try to help address these issues.
Dr. Koontz said something in a recent BHOP episode that was very insightful and your article brought it to mind. He said, “Indifference, which is the opposite of love, hate is not.”
You listed a number of worthy works for the lay people. In addition, it's important that one must be attending a church to which one would be confident to invite visitors, and then invite away. Our experience has been that the wrong application of the explanation of the 8th commandment, the homogenization of sin ("all sin is the same", so we don't deal with egregious sin because "we're all sinners") , and the lack of response when one follows the current LCMS process for dealing with genuine concerns can result in a church where the unchecked behavior of some members makes this impossible, and even forces the current members to leave. We've had two experiences where faithful people have left due to unchecked willful sin running rampant in a church, saying they will never set foot in a church again.
Do you have any thoughts about how to try and get new visitors into our churches? I serve on a lay committee that works on that topic, but we are struggling to make progress.
It’s hard to know without your congregation’s “fingerprint”. Each congregation is unique and there isn’t a one size fits all approach because there are so many factors to consider - location, birth rates, area demographics, age profile, competitors, schooling, service style, preaching effectiveness, and so on. But it does give us some ideas about potentially developing a matrix to try to help address these issues.
A beautiful encouragement from the laity. Amen!
Dr. Koontz said something in a recent BHOP episode that was very insightful and your article brought it to mind. He said, “Indifference, which is the opposite of love, hate is not.”
You listed a number of worthy works for the lay people. In addition, it's important that one must be attending a church to which one would be confident to invite visitors, and then invite away. Our experience has been that the wrong application of the explanation of the 8th commandment, the homogenization of sin ("all sin is the same", so we don't deal with egregious sin because "we're all sinners") , and the lack of response when one follows the current LCMS process for dealing with genuine concerns can result in a church where the unchecked behavior of some members makes this impossible, and even forces the current members to leave. We've had two experiences where faithful people have left due to unchecked willful sin running rampant in a church, saying they will never set foot in a church again.