Why Would Someone Join Your Church?

It might help to actually ask ourselves this question. If people are seeking a faith community (and fewer people are) why would they choose your church?

Most churches are remarkably the same—at least at first glance. I write this with some authority, having visited 65 in the last two years. Congregational culture doesn’t seem to vary much.

• Most churches think they are friendly.  
• Most pastors think their message is worth listening to.  
• Many pastors assume they are approachable.
• Most churches aspire to excellent music. Some have capable and flamboyant organists. Others have just as capable lay ensembles leading worship.
• Fewer churches offer educational offerings.
• Fewer churches have youth or children. (This should be alarming to regional bodies!)
• Service offerings are generally cookie cutter. A few embrace a cause.
  One congregation we visited had several service opportunities all centering on cancer. Will prospective members feel this must be their cause, too?
  Some have embraced sexual orientation causes. Will visitors feel that joining these congregations is making a statement on these issues?
  Many participate in Habitat for Humanity or popular Walkathons.
• There seems to be less association with denominational service organizations. This was unintentionally encouraged when Lutheran social service agencies started currying favor for public dollars.
• Many Lutheran churches we visited are just getting by with little sense that there is a future. 

What do visitors see when they walk through your doors? Is there a reason for them to return?

How we see ourselves matters. How others see us may matter more. Most people visiting a church are asking questions like these.

• Will I feel welcome?
• Will my whole family feel welcome?
• Will my membership make a difference in my life?
• Will I be able to participate with all my heart and soul and mind?

Our assumptions about why people choose to join a church can be very wrong.

Back in 1998, a Tanzanian family began attending Redeemer and asked to join. Bishop Almquist was interested in closing Redeemer. They had already seized a good bit of our money. We were discouraged from accepting new members. A synod representative actually visited this family and asked a rather presumptuous question. “Why would you want to join that church? Wouldn’t you be happier in a church with more people like you?”

That family made their own choice to join Redeemer and became the backbone of a new ministry. A decade later SEPA Synod, stuck in their prejudicial past, decided that the nearly 60 members with East African roots who had joined Redeemer since 1998 didn’t count. They claimed this mission outreach had been done without their oversight—although there is no requirement to check with SEPA before accepting new members. Why was a racial distinction made in a Church that claims to be EVANGELICAL?

In this scenario church leaders made an assumption. They assumed what might be best for Redeemer. Their vision for us was not our vision. We were judged on their assumptions.

Assumptions in today’s church beg to be challenged. Assumptions lead to status quo. The status quo in today’s church is decline.

Question everything. Explore.

If you want your congregation to stand out in some way, it would be helpful to know what other congregations in your region are doing.

Here’s a reality—

• Few pastors ever hear other pastors preach.
• Few choirs hear other choirs.
• Most active church members have no time to visit other churches.
• Most churches buy into the same curricula and purchase the same hymnals.

And so most muddle along, assuming they are doing a great job—living in their own bubble. They wonder why more people don’t become involved. They don’t really have a way to measure. The statistics they are able t0 gather reflect failure.

Here’s a suggestion.

Visit other churches. Send two or three members once a month to visit and report on what they learn. Visit churches in your own denomination. Cross denominations.

• You may discover a need you can fill.
• You may learn about a new resource or mission opportunity.
• You might become allies in local projects.
• You might begin to see yourselves through a visitor’s eyes.

If you want to learn about the world, travel. If you want to learn about the Church, visit.