BARRIERS TO CHURCH: Introduction

As a pastor/church leader, have you ever thought about how rare it is when someone in your congregation actually brings someone along with them to a Sunday service?

During my decade as a youth pastor, I would intentionally tailor talks and events towards teens who had no church connection. Nearly every single youth night was constructed, not just to provide a quality time of worship and teaching for Christian teens, but to also be a fun, non-threatening and relevant experience for someone who had never set foot in a church before. There was nothing that thrilled me more than seeing teens, not just inviting, but BRINGING their friends along with them to our youth night.

However, I also noticed that what happened on Sundays was a completely different story. Very seldom did I ever see someone over the age of 20 bring a friend (let alone an entire family) to be a part of the morning service and be given an opportunity to connect to church community. Think about it! When was the last time one of the regular attendees of your Sunday service brought someone new along with them? Perhaps an even better question is, 'Why don't MORE Christians invite and bring guests with them to church?'  Is it because the average congregation doesn't care about seeing their friends and neighbors come to experience the love and grace of Jesus? I wouldn't go quite that far. In fact, I would suggest that the average person in your church really does want to bring someone along with them, but that, perhaps, there are some barriers present in your church that prevent them from doing so.

Last week, probably to the chagrin of most of my followers, I took to Twitter with a huge list of potential barriers that may prevent Christians from inviting guests to join them on a Sunday morning. I also mentioned a number of things that would leave those first-time guests with a bad first impression. While you can view that shortlist by searching the hashtag #Barriers2Church, I thought it would be a good idea to write a little more extensively about each of those barriers here on this blog where there isn't a 140 character limit and I can better communicate my thoughts and ideas. My hope would be that, as a result, you would think about your church context and be challenged towards reducing barriers that might just be inhibiting numerical growth.

If something I write challenges you and spurs you on to make some changes, I'd love to hear from you!