What Makes a Church Inviting? by Jeff Parker and Ann Kerlin

from Luther Rice Journal of Christian Studies, Summer 2021

by Luther Rice College & Seminary

A Positive Case for the Primacy of an Evidential Apologetic Method by Douglas Taylor

What Makes a Church Inviting?

By Jeff Parker1 and Ann Kerlin2

Introduction

What do visitors to a new church notice? What factors lead to a return visit, and

ultimately to new church membership? These are the questions that the elders of Webster Baptist

Church (WBC) in Sylva, NC were asking themselves. The church was growing, but only a few

of the people visiting each week would return and even fewer would ultimately desire

membership. The elders were concerned that WBC was not doing enough to make visitors feel

welcomed, loved, and ministered to during their first visit. These and similar questions ultimately

led to this research project, which was part of a college assignment and a practical exercise

meant to inform leadership at WBC.

Literature Review

According to Pew Research Center’s telephone research studies conducted in 2018 and

2019, only 65% of Americans identify as Christians while 26% describe themselves as atheist,

agnostic, or “nothing in particular.”3 The influence of the global pande mic on church

1 Jeff Parker, BAR, Luther Rice College & Seminary, 2021. The current investigation began as a research project submitted to Dr. Ann Kerlin in partial fulfillment of the requirements of PY 2703: Principles of Psychology.

2 Ann Kerlin, PhD, Liberty University, 2013. Dr. Kerlin has an M.Div. from Luther Rice College & Seminary, and an MA in Human Services from Liberty University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor who also enjoys research on trauma and addictions. She is the coordinator of the MABC program at LRCS.

3 Gregory A. Smith, Alan Cooperman, Besheer Mohamed, Elizabeth Podrebarac Sciupac, Becka A. Alper, Kiana Cox, and Claire Gecewicz, “U.S. Decline of Christianity Continues at

membership and religious affiliation that began in 2020 has not been fully measured yet, and

whether the decline in attendance due to health reasons will be followed by a rebound in

attendance levels has not yet been ascertained. The increase in live streaming options has helped

to boost attendance and may be one way to think about appealing to first time visitors and to

make it convenient for current members to stay connected even while traveling or ill. It has

become a popular option.

However, according to Gallup, church membership fell to only 47% during 2020. Gallop

researchers asked study participants whether they were members of a church, synagogue, or

mosque. The response (47% “yes”) was the lowest in Gallup’s eighty-year history of research on

the topic.4 However the statistics are interpreted, they are not very promising. Despite these low

numbers, in a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in March of 2021, 42% of survey

respondents said they attended a live service and 65% reported watching a service online or on

television.5 Time will tell whether trends in 2021 may indicate an increase in church attendance

or a continued decline not only in church attendance, but religious affiliation overall.

Rapid Pace: An Update on America's Changing Religious Landscape,” Pew Research Center, October 17, 2019, https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianitycontinues-at-rapid-pace.

4 Jeffrey M. Jones, “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time,” Gallup, March 29, 2021, https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-belowmajority-first-time.aspx.

5 Gregory A. Smith, et al. “Life in U.S. Religious Congregations Slowly Edges Back Toward Normal, Pew Research Center, March 22, 2021, https://www.pewforum.org/2021/03/22/ life-in-u-s-religious-congregations-slowly-edges-back-toward-normal/.

The concern of WBC is a concern of many churches and religious leaders. For most

churches, the initial point of contact is usually a visit from someone who was invited by a friend,

but some visitors come on their own initiative and are consequently unaccompanied by a church

member. In his book, Becoming a Welcoming Church, Thom Rainer suggests, “Churches

perceive they are a friendly church because the members are friendly to one another. But they

don’t think about walking in the shoes of first-time guests. They don’t look at their facilities, their parking, their website, or their friendliness from a guest perspective.”6

“Love God and love people” is a familiar saying based on Matthew 22:34-40. The

Scripture reads,

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”7

Paul clearly demonstrated his love for the people in the churches he founded and ministered to in

his epistles. However, the way that we provide and share that love may have evolved somewhat

since the days of Paul nearly two centuries ago. We no longer greet one another with a “holy

kiss” (Rom. 16:16) and in fact, since the pandemic, rarely even shake hands or touch. But since

the days when many churches closed their doors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a return to

face-to-face fellowship is going to increase the need to determine what makes people feel

welcomed and comfortable in a church. Since this survey occurred prior to the pandemic, several

8. 6 Thom Rainer, Becoming a Welcoming Church (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishers, 2018),

7 All Scripture taken from the NIV unless otherwise noted.

post-pandemic concerns should be mentioned. These include cleanliness, social distancing

options in seating, options for mask-wearing, availability of hand sanitizer, and limitations on the

provision of shared food or drinks, including communion supplies. All of these issues related to

health are certainly matters of interest in the current climate.

Nobody wants to feel like an outsider. Unfortunately, churches are prone to make visitors

feel like outsiders without realizing that it is happening. This is not a problem unique to the

church environment, of course. From infancy, people feel hesitant to attend a new school, move

to a new neighborhood, begin a new job, or encounter new people in general. Such hesitancy can

serve a protective function, but if the new organization does not find a way to bridge that natural

hesitancy, visitors will feel isolated and unwelcome.

If the purpose of the church is to point people to Christ and bring glory to God, then

believers should desire to see Jesus glorified by the worship of new believers. In the book

Vertical Church, James McDonald reminds believers that “church has to be about helping people discover what they can’t get anywhere else.”8 This calling means that every church needs to be

self-aware about the way they relate to church visitors in the modern age, and indeed, the way

they relate to all individuals they might encounter elsewhere.

Communication is important, and churches do not always do a good job of

communicating beyond the pulpit. As first-time visitors navigate a church, they are looking for

simple information that members take for granted and assume is visible to all. Visitors may be

looking for written material describing the times of services and groups for adults, teens, and

8 James McDonald, Vertical Church: What Every Heart Longs For. What Every Church Can Be. (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2015), 85.

children. Some will gravitate toward a website while others prefer written documents. All

visitors appreciate signage pointing to seating, restrooms, and registration for children’s classes.

But clutter, confusion, and a lack of information can be off-putting. Eric Geiger and Thom

Rainer wrote an entire book devoted to the idea that churches need to simplify. Appropriately,

the book is entitled Simple Church. As Geiger and Rainer observe, “Many of our churches have

become cluttered. So cluttered that people have a difficult time encountering the simple and

powerful message of Christ. So cluttered that many people are busy doing church instead of

being the church.”9 Cluttered and improper communication is a silent killer of many churches.

Clutter and the busy-ness of too many programs can also cloak the church’s true mission.

Similar to the changes in welcoming people that may occur across time and cultures,

feeling welcomed may also change based on the age of the visitor. Milennials are often

characterized as missing from the church, but a recent survey by the Barna Group provides some

key information about what milennials think about church and how they feel welcomed.10 While

some churches traditionally use a visitor’s card or form to collect contact information, milennials

apparently do not like to provide personal information to churches. In a survey of 843

millennials, 82% said they felt comfortable sharing their first name with a church, but only 53%

were willing to share their last name. 33% were willing to provide an email address, 20% their

physical address, 12% their phone number, and only 6% their Facebook or other social media

identifier. For those who were not Christian, 28% did not want to share anything at all. This age

9 Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger, Simple Church (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2011), 15.

10 “Millennials at Church: What Millennials Want When They Visit Church,” Barna, 2015, https://www.barna.com/research/what-millennials-want-when-they-visit-church/.

group is not generally uncomfortable sharing with organizations, but according to this survey,

would prefer to stay anonymous until they are ready to share when visiting a new church. A

clearly marked information kiosk might be more welcoming for this age group, rather than

having someone stand over them while they fill out a visitor’s card.11

Additionally, families are attracted to churches and many times the children’s programs

are crucial in determining whether the family returns or seeks to worship elsewhere. Safety is

one of the most important things to any parent. Parents will not feel comfortable leaving their

children in an unclean facility or with people who have not been properly screened. After having

conducted his own research, Rainer also spoke to these issues involving children. He said, “The

issue of unsafe and unclean children’s areas generated the most emotional comments. If your

church does not have clear safety and security procedures, and if the children’s area does not

appear to be clean and sanitary to the guests, do not expect young families to return to your

church.”12 Even Jesus Himself cared very much about how His disciples treated children, stating,

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kindgom of

heaven (Matt 19:14, ESV).” Clearly, the church is expected to remove any hindrances that

prohibit children from connecting with Jesus, and this is a critical area of concern.

The purpose of this research project was to explore which areas are important to visitors

of a church in order that the church itself may create a more welcoming environment. In order to

11 “Millennials at Church,” https://www.barna.com/research/what-millennials-wantwhen-they-visit-church/.

12 Rainer, Becoming a Welcoming Church, 9.

disciple and baptize believers in the name of the Lord, one must first invite people to participate

in the process, and that usually starts with church visitors.

Method

The research project was conducted using an anonymous non-standard survey created by

the primary investigator that contained 20 questions rated on a 6-point Likert scale. It is included

in Appendix A. For participants, instructions stated: “Please circle the number that best describes

how you feel about the statement regarding churches you’ve visited.” Answer choices on Likert

scale included from lowest ranking to highest ranking: 0) Not at all 1) A little 2) Sort of

3) Somewhat 4) Mostly and 5) Completely.

This research project was conducted using a paid subscription to Survey Monkey. The

participants were a convenience sample consisting of friends and acquaintainces of the primary

investigator who were contacted in the hopes that they would describe their experiences when

visiting a new church or looking for a new church to join.

The primary investigator sent out hundreds of survey links via personal email invitations;

social media posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Messenger; multiple website links on various

domains; church email lists and webpages; online classified ads; and in public events pages

throughout western North Carolina. The targeted geographic areas included Asheville and

Charlotte, North Carolina.

There were 3 unanswered questions out of the 2020 potential responses; means were

substituted.

Participants

While the number of invitations to participate in the survey were not counted, there were

101 respondents. Demographic information was captured in questions 1 and 2 on the survey, and

included age and gender only; 57 respondents were female (56.4%), and 44 were male (43.6%).

Age ranges are displayed in Table 1.

Table 1: Age of Participants

Age 18-24 25-34 35-44

Number Percentage 12 11.88% 22 21.78% 27 26.73% 45-54 16 15.84% 55 or older 24 23.76%

Results

In question 3, participants were asked to describe whether they were an active member of

a church (88 or 87.13%), currently looking for a home church (10 or 9.90%), or were no longer

interested in finding a home church (3 or 2.97%). Responses to the rest of the survey questions

are presented in Table 2. Because those who were no longer interested in finding a home church

constituted such a small group (n = 3), their answers were not included in statistical analyses

between groups.

However, when comparing the responses of those those looking for a new church (n =

10) and the rest of the participants, there were statistically significant differences using ANOVA.

An alpha level of .05 was used for subsequent analyses, and we provided effect sizes using eta2 .

Table 2: Results of Survey Questions 4-20

When I visit a church…. 1) Not at all 2) A little 3) Sort of 4) Somewhat 5) Mostly 6) Completely Mean Score (SD)

Q4: The website prepares me for what to expect and I feel it should be up-to-date. 10 7 3 20 25 36 4.50 (1.63) Q5: Special parking for visitors and parking attendants are imporant. 37 10 9 24 7 14 2.96 (1.83) Q6: Clear signage (restrooms, buildings, sanctuary, etc.) is important to me. 0 6 5 17 25 48 5.03 (1.18) Q7: I expect the facilities to be exceptionally clean. 2 0 3 13 36 47 5.20 (1.00) Q8: I hope to see greeters that can answer questions and show me around as needed. 1 3 0 12 30 55 5.30 (1.01) Q9: It’s important that there is coffee available in or near the worship services. 45 8 7 20 7 14 2.78 (1.89) Q19: A vibrant children’s ministry and a safe check-in procedure is important to me. 0 3 3 9 15 70 5.44 (1.00) Q11: I hope to connect with somebody and maybe even sit with a member. 18 11 9 22 26 15 3.69 (1.70) Q12: I look for a church that takes special interest in people with disabilities. 12 9 19 28 14 18 3.76 (1.56) Q13: The atmosphere (lighting, sound, décor) is important to the worship service 8 5 5 31 22 30 4.43 (1.49) Q14: The music should be high quality, rehearsed, organized, and engaging. 5 3 6 12 35 40 4.87 (1.35) Q15: I prefer a ‘stand and greet’ time during the service. 37 13 10 18 12 11 2.88 (1.80) Q16: The preaching should be memorable and exciting. 1 4 7 16 39 34 4.88 (1.13) Q17: The preaching should be solid, biblical, and practical. 1 4 7 16 39 34 5.87 (0.46) Q18: I want to meet a pastor at some point during the visit. 1 4 7 16 39 34 4.03 (1.52) Q19: I expect information about the church to be simple and easy to find. 1 1 2 8 23 66 5.47 (0.92) Q20: I would like to be contacted at some point after my visit experience . 13 13 14 25 14 22 3.79 (1.68)

Using ANOVA, we found several questions had statistically significant differences

between those seeking a church (n = 10) and current members of a church (n = 88) and these are

described below.

• Q6: “Clear signage (restrooms, buildings, sanctuary, etc.) is important to me.” Members (M = 5.11, SD = 1.09) rated this higher than Seekers (M = 4.20, SD = 1.69; F(1, 96) =

5.60). This is was statistically significant (p = .020) and the effect size was quite small (η = .06).

• Q8: “I hope to see greeters that can answer questions and show me around as needed.”

Seekers (M = 4.20, SD = 1.62) rated this lower than Members (M = 5.41, SD = 0.85; F(1, 96) = 14.50, p < .001). This is a statistically significant difference although the effect size was small (η2 = .13).

• Q14: “The music should be high quality, rehearsed, organized, and engaging.” Members (M = 5.02, Sd = 1.12) rated this higher than Seekers (M = 3.50, SD = 2.32; F(1, 96) = 12.61). This finding was statistically significant (p = .001), although the effect size was small (η = .12). • Q15: “I prefer a ‘stand and greet’ time during the service.” Members (M = 3.02, SD = 1.84) also rated this higher than Seekers (M = 1.80, SD = 1.14; F(1, 96) = 4.22) This is a statistically signficant difference (p = .043) but with a small effect size (η = .04).

Discussion

A visitor’s desire to return to a church will likely correlate with the church’s desire to

connect with visitors. This proposition was stated at the beginning of the project and results

support its veracity at least in part. Looking at the raw data, participants marked quite a few

responses as important to them. When there are people available to help them park, the

welcoming process begins before they enter the building. While the results showed that 47

participants do not care much about parking, the other 54 do believe it is of some imporance.

Some extreme high scores worth mentioning include having greeters: 85 completely agreed or

mostly agreed these were important, while 83 participants mostly or completely agreed that clean

facilities were important. And another 85 mostly or completely agreed that a vibrant childrens’

ministry with safe check-in procedures was important. Professionally prepared music was also

ranked high with 75 indicating they mostly or completely agreed with this statement. The three

questions related to preaching and pastors were answered exactly the same: 73 people mostly or

completely agreed that they wanted to meet a pastor, that the preaching should be exciting and

solidly biblical. Another 73 also mostly or completely agreed that clear signage is important.

And 89 participants mostly or completely agreed that information should be easy to find. The

responses to this survey may be helpful to those seeking to enhance visitor experiences in their

own church, and provided interesting feedback to the leadership at WBC.

However, there was relatively little difference in responses between those seeking a

church and those who were already members, so it cannot be determined if those seeking a new

church home looked at the visit through the same lens or perhaps had a completely different

experience of the church compared to members. There were few differences.

In the statistically different responses between church members and those seeking a

church, members rated clear signage, greeters, good music, and a stand and greet time more

highly than seekers did. Despite these differences, all four of these analyses had very small

effect sizes, meaning they were not very powerful differences in scope. No other statistically

significant differences were found.

Limitations

This project has a small sample size, especially for the group actively seeking a new

church home. This sample is not representative of the general population; therefore results may

not generalize iin every situation. Further research using a larger pool of participants may

discover more differences between groups. And due to circumstances regarding COVID-19,

health concerns may play a greater role in visitor comfort when joining a new group of people.

Future research should consider the web presence of churches as well as the welcome

provided during face to face visits. Bringing new guests into a church via an online platform

changes many variables but is a viable way of making that first time visit. Churches should

carefully evaluate their website and social media presence to create a positive experience for new

guests. Many of the same criteria apply whether visitors attend the church physically, watch a

service online, or visit the church website. Is it easy for visitors to find their way around? Is

anyone there to greet visitors during services, both in-person and online? Is there any way for

visitors to make contact or be contacted after the service? And what is the sound and volume

quality of the music and the sermon? What is the lighting and background like? Is the service

streaming quality good, or does it keep breaking up? These and other questions related to online

services, which have become popular during the era of COVID-19, could be helpful to churches

hoping to grow numerically, but also hoping to retain members who may occasionally prefer

online church services.

Research resulting from the effects of COVID-19 should include the impact of using

social media, online live and recorded church services, and the impact of suspension of church

services. Additionally, studies examining how communion has been delivered during this time

will be helpful for future crises. Such information will aid the efforts of the church to connect

with visitors, disciple new believers, and join together to participate in the mission of Christ and

His Church.

Appendix A

The Survey

1. Age ____

2. Gender: Circle one Male Female

3. Which phrase best describes you? (Choose a. b. or c.) a. I am now an active member of a local church b. I am currently looking for a home church c. I am no longer interested in finding a home church

Please circle the number that best describes how you feel about the following statements regarding churches you’ve visited.

When I visit a church….

4. The website prepares me for what to expect and I feel it should be up-to-date. 0 1 2 3 4 5