Surprising Insights #5: Impressed by First Impressions

I’ll never forget a story a colleague told me about going to church in a small Victorian country town where she and a friend were holidaying.  They found the local Anglican church on Sunday, and went in at service time.  The place was mainly empty, so they picked a pew and slid in.  The first person to talk to them was an elderly lady who came over and said grumpily, ‘You’re sitting in my spot’.  

This chapter discusses the study’s findings that first impressions matter.  Interestingly, most respondents were more affected by the impressions on their second visit, rather than their first.  But they had decided within a few minutes of their first visit as to whether they would come back or not.  Many put it down to being overwhelmed by everything first time around.  

Be that as it may, the point is that the formerly unchurched notice things about both people and facilities that influence their decision to return.  There wasn’t much about this in the chapter, but I rather suspect that the transfer churched are fussier about things like worship and music preference. 

The study showed that the top five first impressions had to do with:

1. Friendliness - 311
2. Nice facilities/ adequate space -161
3. Nursery/ preschool/ children’s ministry - 102
4. Organisation (instead of chaos) - 111
5. Greeters and welcome centres - 117

The numbers refer to the number of respondents (out of the study total of 353) who mentioned this factor as a positive towards their decision to return and eventually join the church.  

Rainer rightly discusses the impact of consumerism and the consumer mentality on churches.  Two or three generations ago church was where you went locally to serve others.  Now visitors ask what the church can do for them, or their children.  He acknowledges that it is difficult to draw the line between being seeker-friendly and driven by consumerism, but uses the example of one outstandingly evangelistically successful church as the paradigm: excellence is what matters.  ‘Mediocrity breeds indifference, but excellence attracts…’ says that church’s pastor.  So even if you’re starting a church in a dingy rented living room, with no children’s ministry, you should be encouraged to strive for excellence in the service and in quality of your friendly welcoming fellowship.  

Surprising Insights #4: Relationships that Click

This is a really interesting chapter.  Rainer cites a number of other studies which indicate that relationships are highly significant for people connecting to a church.  The received wisdom is that relationships matter, but in this chapter he outlines this particular study’s surprising findings.  The methodological nuances take a bit of careful thought to get through, but they’re worth it!  

Two significant differences between this study’s and other studies’ findings are identified.  1. The reasons the formerly unchurched chose a particular church are complex and cannot be simplified to one or two major issues.  2. Relationships is an important factor, but not the overwhelming reason as some other studies suggest.  

Five major conclusions are outlined:

1. Relationships Are Very Important
2. Rarely Do Relationships Alone Explain the Best Way to Reach the Unchurched
3. God Sometimes Works to Reach the Unchurched Without Using Any Relationships
4. Family Relationships Are the Most Important
5. The Wife is the Most Important Relationship in Reaching the Unchurched

The formerly unchurched were asked, ‘If a family member influenced you to come to church, which person was most influential?’  The highest score was 35% - ‘wives’.  The next highest was 18% - ‘children’ and then 16% for ‘other’.  Parents, siblings and parents-in-law returned 9, 5 and 2%.  Husbands didn’t even score. 

Rainer observes that women are, on anecdotal evidence, more likely to visit a church without any relational connection, whereas men are not likely to visit a church where they do not know anybody.  

The end result, in my opinion, is that women tend to be over-represented in churches.  The good news is that wives are such an important relationship for reaching unchurched husbands - one third of respondents!  So, how many churches do you know about with an intentional ministry to help wives reach their unconverted husbands?  St Alfred’s doesn’t have one… yet. 

Five Books for Budding Theologians

A friend just asked me to recommend five books for people beginning to consider theological studies, or who are becoming interested in theology. Here's my reply:  
1. ESV Study Bible - because the Bible is where we start and this one has seriously helpful theologically-rigorous notes (and pictures, I like pictures)  
2. Knowing God - J. I. Packer - because theology is the study of God, and knowing God can never be reduced to an intellectual exercise: if it is, you've failed  
3. Understanding Doctrine - Alister McGrath - because it's always helpful to have a gutsy quick-read overview of orthodox Christian belief  
4. The Story of Christianity - Justo Gonzalez - because theology is embedded in a historical context and it's humbling to see that you're not the first person to ask that intriguing question (and we remember stories)  
5. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology/ Theology - IVP - because most people come to theological reflection with a specific issue or question to begin with, and these tomes allow you start where you want and then follow the links to read-your-own theological adventure
BTW, I've put in links above to some really interesting sites where you can begin reading theology online. 
Cheers! And happy reading and knowing God.

Surprising Insights #3: Pastors and Preaching are Critical

Rainer gives two reasons why he was hesitant to publish this chapter.  

Firstly, earlier research on four thousand churches in the USA showed that a majority were abandoning the biblical model of pastoral ministry: that is, a commitment to Acts 6:4 and a model of leadership that allowed pastors to focus on ministry of the Word and prayer.  

Secondly, he feared that many readers would use this material to say that the reason their churches weren’t growing was inept pastoring - when in fact his research shows that ‘pastors are among the hardest working and yet least respected persons in America today’. 

But publish the chapter he did, because the ‘pastor and preaching’ factor was found to be so outstandingly critical to evangelistically effective churches.  97% of respondents answered ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Did the pastor and the preaching play a part in your coming to this church?‘  Asked a more open-ended question about factors that led to respondents choosing their church, ‘pastors or preaching’ were mentioned in 90% of cases, ‘doctrine’ in 88% and the next most mentioned factor was ‘friendliness’ at 49%.  

Around ‘pastors and preaching’ there were 8 statistically significant characteristics:

1. preaching that teaches the Bible - by which is meant expository or ‘line-by-line’ Bible teaching (as one respondent described it. 
2. preaching that applies to my life
3. authenticity of the pastor - down-to-earth, friendly, willing to admit mistakes, real, regular guy
4. pastor’s conviction - of the truth and the importance of it
5. personal contact by the pastor
6. pastor is a good communicator
7. pastor is a leader - especially with regard to the vision and purpose and direction of the church
8. pastor’s class - by which is meant an introductory class to the church, or a church membership class that is taken by the senior pastor. 

Each of these eight are described in more detail in this chapter, which ends with a word of encouragement for pastors - for it does seem that a ‘superman pastor’ is what is required!  Rainer notes that in a previous study he discovered that a majority of pastors spend around two hours a week on sermon preparation.  That staggered me, I need most of the week whenever I’m preaching!  So he concludes that making a few decisions about the relative importance of preaching and teaching, the ministry of Word and prayer, can yield great fruit in a pastor’s ministry.  That’s not a bad conclusion, nor a bad word of encouragement.  

The Attentive Life

The Attentive Life: Discerning God’s Presence in All Things, Leighton Ford, IVP Books, 2008. 

Ok, I have to admit that I’m only reading this book because I have to.  I’m part of a peer mentoring community that meets in a retreat setting for five days annually.  Each year we read a book together on the spiritual life, and our reading reflections become an important part of our time together.  

Leighton Ford is Billy Graham’s brother-in-law, and at the time of my writing both men are advanced in years, but still alive and relatively well.  Leighton was part of the Billy Graham evangelistic team that proclaimed the Gospel to literally millions of people across the globe over the latter half of the last century.    

As an evangelist, Leighton’s life has been about being busy “making friends for God”, as he puts it.  It was, by any account, a hectic frantic frenetic existence flying from city to city to preach, teach and speak as an itinerant evangelist.  In the latter part of his life, the commitment to evangelism remains, but he also wants to attend to his own heart and to deepen his own friendship with God; he uses the language of paying attention to God’s presence in all things.  This is the prime concern of this book. 

It’s not the usual kind of book that I read, or that the people in my mentoring group might read either.  But  it so happens that Leighton Ford is effectively the grandfather of our group, which has been ‘grandfathered’ out of an original mentoring group assembled by him some decades ago.  So I guess we owe it to him! 

The chapters are structured around prayers of the hours, or the Divine Hours, a cycle of eight prayer times through the day (and night!) in the Rule of St. Benedict.  This medieval monastic order or rule of life, has experienced something of a postmodern renaissance as Christians seek release and a sense of order within the chaotic activity of the pressure and stress-packed technological world.  

In each chapter Ford offers his reflection on the particular prayer in the cycle, provides an exemplar of ‘one who paid attention’ to God, and notes a helpful practice or two for paying attention ourselves.  It is written in an easy first-person narrative style.  Sort of like a fire-side chat with your favourite grandfather, only it is mainly a monologue, and there are bits where you have to work hard to stop, reflect, pay attention to what is really being said... pay attention to what God might be saying. 

I don’t think there can really ever be any replacement to reflecting on the Bible and what God is saying and teaching us through the Scriptures, but I’ve really valued how this book and these kinds of books force me to think and experience things outside the square of my default spirituality.  Like great poetry, of which Leighton is fond, moments in this book catch you unawares, and you are better for it. 

TEC consecrates practising lesbian bishop

Well, it was always going to happen.

Some of you know that I went to GAFCON - the Global Anglican Futures Conference - two years ago.  It was a massive gathering of people representing the vast majority of the world's Anglicans, who view Jesus as the Son of God who died for the sins of the world, and who combine that faith in Jesus Christ with a high view of the Bible's authority - and who incidentally are still growing by evangelism and conversion.  In other words, they were recognisably Christian using any of the classic historical definitions of the faith.

Contrast the Anglican Church in the USA, otherwise known as 'The Episcopal Church' (which in itself tells us something about their self-superior mindset!).  This article from The Age inaccurately describes Mary Glasspool's 'consecration' as an 'ordination', but otherwise provides a look at the issue. What is at stake here is not just a Church's views on human sexuality, but an entire shift in the meaning of Christian identity - and the source of that identity.

TEC believes that the historic formularies of the Christian faith, including its teaching on the person and work of Christ, the authority of the Scriptures, and human sexuality, are all unfixed and open to change.  They are, to TEC, in a state of progressive change, depending (largely) on the latest reflections from human wisdom and experience.

By contrast, orthodox Christians and Anglicans are committed to the Bible as God's rule of faith, and the source of 'all things necessary for life and salvation'.  The central message of the Bible is 'the eternal Gospel', as unchanging as God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Yes, the Scriptures are subject to interpretation - that is why we need well trained pastors and teachers who submit themselves to the discipline of biblical studies - but their job is to interpret the meaning and application of the 'faith delivered once for all' to a changing context.

The difference is vitally important. If you put human thinking and reason in first spot, you will inevitably end up moving with the philosophical fashion of the times. But if you put Scripture first, duly interpreted and worked through, there will always be a sense in which you will be 'in the world but not of the world'. It's an uncomfortable spot, but then Jesus Christ did get himself crucified for occupying just such a position.

I've just heard Glasspool speak on the BBC News saying that she invites people who disagree with her to meet with her, for, she says, 'I am a reconciling person'. It's a nice sentiment, but she conveniently ignores the entire history of TEC moving in a direction contrary to numerous discussions and protests dating back more than a decade. She and her Church ignored the Archbishop of Canterbury's strong warning against proceeding with the consecration.  It was hardly a conciliatory move to the rest of the Anglican Church to do so today. We can only expect TEC and its sympathisers to be further marginalised from the rest of orthodox Anglicanism (and to be outraged at the same time).

Other commentators, for those who are seriously interested:
David Virtue
Global South Anglican - a coalition of majority world Anglicans
Anglican TV
Anglican Mainstream -
The Bishop of Tasmania has made a strong comment here and provides more links on his page.

Surprising Insights - 9 Myths about the Unchurched - Pt II

Myth #6 The pastor must be a dynamic and charismatic leader for the church to reach the unchurched

Only 4% of the churches in the USA meet the definition of evangelistically-effective laid out for this study.  Of these, most of the pastors are not the mega-star ones whose names evangelical Christians would be familiar with.  Pastoral leadership was such an important factor that the entire latter half of the book deals with this.   

Myth #6 We must be careful in our teaching and preaching so that we do not communicate deep and complex biblical truths that will confuse the unchurched

91% of respondents indicated that doctrine was important in their decision to choose the church to join.  Interestingly, this was a slightly higher percentage than the 89% of transfer churched respondents (ie. Christians who transferred their membership).  My observation is that the world is not a simple place, and people - churched or unchurched - are looking for robust and coherent, not simplistic, answers.  

Myth #7 The Sunday School and other small groups are ineffective in attracting the unchurched

By Sunday School the study means the practice of holding Bible study classes on Sunday afternoons, after the morning service.  These often take the place of our mid-week Bible study small groups.  The Sunday School is for all age groups, highly organised, and syllabus driven.  They are, in effect, a means of providing Bible teaching in an organised age-appropriate setting.  An Australian equivalent might be the parachurch Bible Study Fellowship or a Bible overview course run in a local church.  

Myth #8 The most important evangelistic relationships take place in the marketplace

By marketplace the study means the place we spend most of our working time: work, university, school, neighborhoods, shops.  We might spend most of our time in the ‘marketplace’ but it ranks poorly as a fertile place for evangelism. 

When asked who was most significant in influencing their decision to come to church, the formerly unchurched ranked family members highest at 43%.  Next, in order, came ‘No one’ (25%), ‘Other’ (17%), ‘Coworker’ (8%), ‘Neighbour’ (6%) then ‘Merchant’ (2%).  Familial relationships were far and away the most significant.  

Of family relationships, wives were far and away the most significant (35%), children next (18%) then parents (9%) and siblings (5%).  Parents-in-law (2%) and other relations (9%) complete the list.  Husbands barely ranked.  

What this tells us is that marketplace evangelism is extremely difficult for a variety of reasons that we might speculate about.  It also indicates that churches would do well to develop an intentional strategy of equipping wives to evangelise their husbands.  

Myth #9 The unchurched are concerned only about their own needs

The study showed that the motivation of the unchurched for seeking out church or religious influence is complex and varied.  One-in-three respondents indicated that the desire to have religious influence in their children’s lives was the main factor for them.  Many also indicated altruistic motives, the desire to be challenged to make a difference.  

Some preaching tends to denigrate and condemn ‘the world’ and the unchurched, when in reality there is sin both inside and outside the church.  I’ve found that people appreciate it when I point this out in my preaching and teaching, and when I affirm what I can in the world while passionately defending my conviction that Jesus is the pinnacle of all wisdom and altruism and service.

Great MythBusting!  I’m looking forward to the rest of the book!