I suspect this church is only a couple years old. I later learn they’re an outgrowth of a small group.
Consider these four discussion questions about Church #7:
1. Their meeting space looks abandoned. We approach with uncertainty. I hesitate to walk inside. It wouldn’t take much to make the entrance more inviting.
What simple things can you do to make your facility say “welcome” instead of “go away”?
2. Inside, people mingle. Several introduce themselves in a friendly, unassuming way. They’re great at pre-meeting interaction with people they don’t know.
How can you best connect with visitors before church? How can you encourage others to follow your example?
3. Their leader is a tentmaker pastor. Like Paul in the Bible, he works for a living to share Jesus for free. Without him drawing a salary, there is more money for outreach and ministry.
How might your congregation move away from depending on paid staff and tap the skills of capable volunteers?
4. As is often the case, it’s new churches—not established ones—where people are most apt to discover God and grow into a vibrant faith.
What can you do to promote a new-church excitement where you worship?
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
This small country church didn’t come up in our online research, but we have driven past it. All we know is their name and service time.
Consider these four discussion questions about Church #6:
1. A wheelchair ramp suggests the way inside, but we’re surprised when it doesn’t lead to the main entrance. The small side door looks tightly shut. We retrace our steps in frustration.
How can you direct guests to the right entrance?
2. Once inside, a lady hands us a bulletin and visitor card. The card is important to them. Three more people will offer us one before we leave.
How does your church gather information about visitors? How can you do it better?
3. After a few songs, there’s an extended greeting time, but we’re boxed in and can’t move. Given our lack of mobility, we can do nothing but smile awkwardly.
If your church has a mid-service greeting, what can you do to make it a positive experience for everyone?
4. Many people invite us to stay afterward for refreshments. This is an extended time of community and celebration. They’re happy to linger in one another’s company.
How can you best embrace people in your after-church fellowship?
This quintessential country church had a homey feel from caring, sincere people. Yet it also had some weak areas that need addressing, just like all churches.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
When I tell people we’re visiting area churches, I specify Christian, but they often hear Protestant. It surprises them to learn we’ll visit Catholic gatherings too.
After all, Catholics are Christians too. Today is our first visit to a Catholic church.
Consider these four discussion questions about Church #5:
1. A flurry of last-minute and late arrivals distracts me from the service.
When do you typically walk into church and why? How can you minimize distractions from latecomers?
2. Throughout the morning, I’m pleased to see laypeople take part.
What can you do to involve more people in your service?
3. The service is hard to follow. We never know what to say when a congregational response is required. We eventually discover some of this information in a book called the Missal, but it doesn’t help much.
How can you help people navigate your church’s traditions and practices?
4. When the priest announces mass is over, the people dart out. They don’t tarry to talk.
Does your church value community? What can you do to help people connect with each other?
Though our approach to Jesus may different, Protestants need to remember that Catholics are Christians too. We both seek the same God, the God revealed in the Bible. The details of our faith aren’t important when we look at the big picture.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
This church’s Facebook page—they have no website—says their “services are informal with a blend of hymns and contemporary music.” I expect service melding contemporary and traditional aspect of worship.
Consider these four discussion questions about Church #4:
1. I suspect the service will match what I see in the facility, a merging of traditional and contemporary, just as promised online.
Does your church deliver what you promise? If not, what needs to change?
2. We sit only a third of the way in, yet most people pack in behind us.
Where do you sit in church? Why? Many visitors like to sit toward the back to remain anonymous. What can you do to leave room for them?
3. Some people raise their hands in worship as we sing, yet most don’t. I want to, but I fear calling unwelcomed attention to myself if I do.
How can you help people feel comfortable in worshiping God at your church?
4. Afterward, they invite us to stay for coffee and cookies. So many people talk to us that snack time is over before we reach the fellowship hall.
How can you avoid being in such a hurry to pick up that guests feel rushed or shortchanged?
Overall. I’m excited at their melding contemporary and traditional in their church service.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
The third church is more established like Church #1 but more midsized like Church #2. It is a caring church.
Consider these four discussion questions about Church #3:
1. Many pages on their website are “under construction” or “coming soon.” The sections for members have information, while the pages for visitors are incomplete.
What can you do to keep your website up-to-date and relevant for visitors?
2. Finding the church is a person’s first challenge. Knowing which door to enter is next. This facility has several doors, all unmarked. We don’t know which one to use.
How can you better guide people to the correct entrance?
3. These folks dress up for church. I don’t. My appearance doesn’t bother me, but it might be a problem for others—both visitors and members.
Will visitors who dress differently feel comfortable at your church or out of place?
4. As we walk in, a friend spots me. She says, “This won’t be a typical service.” One of their members died by suicide. The service will address their loss.
If your service will have unexpected content or be difficult to deal with, what can you do to alert guests to help them avoid unpleasant surprises?
A caring church makes the difference when dealing with difficult situations. This church exemplifies this well.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
The church is three years old and meets in a strip mall. Their goal is to “grow deeper, not wider.” Everything about this church is the opposite of last week.
Consider these four church discussion questions for Church #2:
1. I park near the door. I later realize they leave the prime spaces for guests, with the regulars parking further away.
When you arrive at church, where do you park and why?
2. Scores of people mill about, all engaged in conversation. We mosey in, giving time for someone to notice us. No one does. We sit and squirm in silence.
Who do you talk to before church: friends, regulars you don’t know well, or visitors? Why? What needs to change?
3. Despite singing and hearing a message, most of the service relates to church business.
How can you address church business and still make it meaningful for new people? Should Sunday mornings have an external focus, saving internal discussions for a different time?
4. Although they ignored us after we walked in, the overall atmosphere and service was much more welcoming than last week. I want to come back.
What can you do to make it easy for people to engage in your service and want to return?
Grow Deeper
I applaud this church for their desire to grow deeper. From what I can tell, they’re doing a fantastic job. And in the process, they are growing numerically as well.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
The church has no online presence, as well as an uninviting exterior. But the people inside are friendly, and we feel at home—mostly. But overall, they are a friendly church.
Consider these four discussion questions about Church #1:
1. An unwieldy wheelchair ramp tacked onto the front of the building desperately needs painting. We bypass the ramp, but it remains our focal point and forms our first impression.
What changes should you make to give your church better curb appeal and offer a better first impression?
2. A man lacking in social skills, with possible mental issues, corners us when we arrive. We can’t escape his plodding monologue.
What can you do to protect visitors from regular attendees who may repel or scare them away?
3. There are only seventeen people present. With a smirk, the minister asks first-time visitors to raise their hands. I want to disappear.
What practices should you stop so that people won’t squirm?
4. After the service, everyone lingers to chat. Many thank us for visiting and invite us to come again, but they aren’t pushy.
What can you do to help a person’s first visit not be their last?
This was a friendly church and that goes along way to overcoming their shortcomings, which every church has.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
I’m preparing to go to Church #1. The enemy harasses me. I don’t want to go. I now understand why the non-regular church attender can so easily stay home despite their best intentions.
The living room recliner and television remote are much more inviting and much less threatening.
Consider these two church discussion questions:
1. Welcoming visitors starts before they arrive.
What can you do to make it easy for them to show up?
2. A personal invitation is the most effective way to encourage people to visit your church.
What specific things can you do to invite people to visit?
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #52.
This church offers two services. They call the first one blended, combining traditional and contemporary elements, whereas the second one is promoted as contemporary.
Both are mislabeled. The church has two misrepresented services.
Church #4 successfully combined traditional and contemporary elements into their service.
Though this church makes the same claim for their first service, it comes off more as a traditional service with a contemporary element awkwardly tacked on the end. For me it was too little, too late.
I also found their second service mislabeled. It was less contemporary and more so “safe.” A friend who attends this church flinched at my description of safe. She also knew I was right.
I suspect what we saw was not so much an effort to provide a contemporary service, but an effort to connect with unchurched visitors while not offending members clinging to the past.
To be correct, they need to either relabel their two services—calling the first one traditional and the second one blended, would be more accurate—or they need to do a major overhaul of each.
Change is in order, with the first option likely appeasing members, whereas the second option would be more effective at connecting with the unchurched.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
I think we’re doing church wrong. At first I assumed it was just me, but today’s church is stuck in a rut, an Old Testament rut. We follow an Old Testament model for church.
Moses’s Method: The Old Testament Model
When God gave Moses the Law, he established some key expectations for worship.
First, he set specific parameters for the tabernacle, which later became the temple. It housed various articles and activities of worship.
With little exception, the people had to go to the temple to worship God. They understood the temple as God’s dwelling place here on earth.
But the people wouldn’t connect with God directly; they were afraid of him. They wanted an intermediary, someone to reveal the Almighty to them and to represent them to him.
To address this, God established the priesthood. These priests would serve God in his temple and be his representatives to his people.
Of course, this religious structure required financial support to maintain, so God instituted a temple tax, the tithe, an obligation to pay 10 percent to provide for the needs of the building and to support the staff.
Today’s Approach
Today, we still follow this Old Testament model: we have a church building where we go to worship God, hire a minister who represents God to us, and take a collection to support this hungry and growing infrastructure.
This is not what Jesus had in mind. In one single action, he did away with the building, the staff, and the offering. We should do the same.
Jesus’s Way
When Jesus overcame death, the veil in the temple ripped apart, exposing the inner sanctum of the most holy place and symbolically allowing everyone direct access to God.
No longer was God distant and removed; he became approachable by everyone.
The New Temple
God ceased living in the temple and began living in us. Our bodies became the temple of God. No longer is a physical building needed; we became his temple.
The New Priesthood
No longer did priests need to serve as a liaison between the creator and the created. Instead, all who follow Jesus became his priests. The laity, serving as priests to each other, should minister to one another, not hire someone else to do it for them.
No longer is there a need for paid staff to be the link between God and his people. We can now all approach God directly, hearing from him and acting on his behalf.
The Holy Spirit that Jesus sent to us sees to that—if we are but willing to listen, hear, and obey what he says.
The New Finances
Finally is that pesky temple tax, which we call a tithe. A church’s building and staff take up 90 to 100 percent of a typical church’s budget. But once we remove the facility and the paid staff, there is no longer a need to give 10 percent.
Nowhere in the New Testament are we commanded to tithe, not to God, not to the local church—as many ministers insist—and not for ministry.
The only time New Testament writers talk about tithing is in reference to Old Testament practices, which Jesus fulfilled.
Instead of tithing to church, we see a principle where everything we have belongs to God. We are to be good stewards of his blessings, in turn using them to bless others.
We must use our resources to help those in need and advance God’s kingdom, not to support and perpetuate a religious institution.
Which Model to Follow?
So why do we persist in following the Old Testament model of going to church each Sunday to seek God, being served by a minister, and tithing when Jesus died to give us something new, something much better?
Jesus turned us into his temple, promoted us to priests, and changed the 10 percent temple tax into a principle of generosity.
Yes, it’s easy to do what we have always done; it’s comfortable to cling to the status quo, but Jesus offers us so much more—and he yearns for us to take hold of it.
There is a new way to worship God, to worship him in spirit and in truth—and it doesn’t involve attending church each Sunday.
So stop following the Old Testament model of church: going to a building to meet God, revering the clergy, and tithing out of guilt or obligation. Instead, be God’s temple, act like priests, and share generously.
This is the new model that Jesus gave us.
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
