Intentional Inclusion

Most churches have new attendees fairly often. On average, 1 or 2 percent of church attendance each week is made up of people new to that congregation. This should translate to a new family or two each month for a church that runs 100 in worship. For a typical church (running 30 to 40 in worship), it may be more like one new family every six weeks.

But more important for effective ministry is whether the guests return.

What attracts new people to your congregation? Why would people want to come back? What are you offering that will help them develop as Christians? And how easily can the guests discover what you are doing?

A useful exercise is determining what your church offers to a guest. Do you concentrate on sound biblical teaching, or is more emphasis on practical living? Is there ample opportunity for fellowship, or are people encouraged to minister outside the church? Can people become involved in compassionate ministry efforts locally, or do you mostly link to denominational efforts? Does “mutual support” come in the form of accountability groups, or do you focus on God’s grace to the individual?

When you know what your church provides, how do you get the word out to new people?

Written materials are often available at greeters’ desks. Do they mention your church’s strongest ministries? Are there clear details on how to become involved? Do announcements (oral or media) include an emphasis on what the church offers? Are there follow-up contacts through personal visits, calls, or letters to allow for more explanation as well?

Not all churches offer the same opportunities. Guests cannot know what your church provides unless you deliberately tell them. Many churches are willing to expand their ministries based on new interests and energies, but even that needs to be communicated to those who have just come for the first or second time.

Accidental Exclusion
The people within the local congregation have a sense of who they are. Of course, their first allegiance needs to be to Christ’s Kingdom. But each church has additional cultural traits. Those who are already part of the congregation may not recognize these cultural additions, but new people will spot them very quickly.

Listen to the informal conversations around the foyer, in the hallways, between Sunday School and church, or after the service. A new person is likely to get a quick picture of the church’s vocations, politics, and educational level before the service has even begun.

Does your congregation talk about certain jobs as “dead-end”? Or do people joke that any successful businessperson must be unethical? Obviously, guests overhearing either of those themes will decide whether they’ll be welcome in this group or made fun of.

When politics are discussed, is one position assumed to be the only one “we” would think of supporting? While a person’s Christianity certainly ought to affect political choices, Bible-believing Christians take different stands on many issues. Guests will quickly recognize whether they would be comfortable expressing their own views.

Language is a quick indicator of educational level. Do conversations follow the rules we were taught in school? If not, is it because they are casual (and then she’s like, I so wanted that) or truncated (it’s happenin’ too quick) or mismatched (they run off without a word)? Thanks to mass communications, we can usually understand many styles of language. But each style reveals something about the group our guests are being asked to join.

Rather than fight the outward signs of its own culture, a church needs to deliberately welcome those with other perspectives. Part of Christian politics ought to involve courtesy to differing viewpoints. If others speak with a different accent, or use words differently than we do, we should do our best to listen and understand. As a church opens itself to more cultural expressions, it will be easier for guests to be comfortable in our congregation.

Even a small congregation can be open to both Shakespeare readers and football viewers. Most likely, some of the people in the congregation already are both. Permission to express a wider range of interests will make it easier to retain the guests who are already coming by.

Of course, the primary mission of the church is neither to regulate speech patterns nor to broaden our cultural experiences. But if we are serious about making disciples, we will work at being attractive to as many new people as possible. And that includes being sensitive to their cultural outlooks while we work together to become more like Jesus.

—prepared by Dale E. Jones, Ken Crow, and Rich Houseal