Finding a Church

 

Twenty years ago, I moved to Birmingham, Alabama, and, when I began my search for a new church, I opened the Yellow Pages, turned to the section for "Churches ---- Episcopal," and wrote down the name, address, and phone number of a church close to me. In order to avoid speaking with anyone, I waited until after the office was closed to call and listen to the answering-machine message that told me the service times. That Sunday, I went to the 11:00 a.m. service at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, and I never bothered to open the Yellow Pages to look for a church again.

 

Partly, that is because, after I left Birmingham, I went to seminary and have not needed to use a telephone directory to find out where I might go to church. More universally, of course, it is because no one uses the phone book to find a church ----or anything else, for that matter ----anymore. Although I have hardly ever opened it, a copy of the local Yellow Pages from 2010 sits on my desk, reminding me of the extent to which getting the word out about one's church has changed in the last few years.

 

How do people find a church these days? What brings a visitor to a new congregation? How do they know whether a church might be right for them? How do they know where and when to show up? If people are not letting their fingers do the walking anymore, how are they learning about churches like ours?

 

Nowadays, when I am in an unfamiliar town on a Sunday morning, I start with a Google search for "Episcopal Church" and the name of the town where I am. I click on links to websites and Facebook pages. I look for the names of colleagues with whom I may not have had contact since seminary. I look for clearly posted service times and pictures that might hint at whether a church is vibrant or dwindling. I look for out-of-date advertisements for parish events that took place months ago. Even if I am not travelling with our children, I look for information about the nursery and children's church and Sunday school because I presume that a church with an active children's program is a church that will attract and retain good preachers, encourage lay leaders to take an active role in worship, and present a friendly and welcoming place for me to visit. I may listen to the first few minutes of a recent sermon or read the newsletter to get a better sense of whether a church is the kind of place I want to worship.

 

Because I only visit churches once or twice a year and do not want to miss a good opportunity, I put all of that effort into finding the right one. I would not expect most people to take that much time to find a church to visit while they are on vacation, but I would expect them to take that much time and care to find a church that they might call home. We continue to see many new faces at St. John's. Even newcomers are inviting newcomers to join us. What is it that is bringing them here?

 

In part, it is our consistent presence on the internet and in social media. You may not have visited the St. John's website recently, but people who want to learn about this church have. Parish websites are primarily a medium for visitors, while parishioners are more likely to get their information from Facebook or Instagram or from a newsletter like this one. When friends outside of our church see that we have shared a post about St. John's or liked a photo from our children's program, they notice. They see that their friends already call St. John's home. They know that, when they walk through the door for the first time, they are likely to see familiar faces.

 

Putting out a virtual welcome may attract first-time visitors, but it is not enough to convince someone to put down roots in a church family. That takes good old-fashioned human contact ----more than an answering-machine message, more than a website, more than a Facebook post. Those virtual images represent people and programs, but they are not a substitute for them.

 

Church is about participating in the transformation that God is enacting in the world through the good news of Jesus Christ. As such, it is about feeding students at Banks-Caddell who might otherwise go hungry on the weekends. It is about hosting an English as a second language (ESL) class in order to more fully integrate immigrants into this community. It is about praying with people who are sick and visiting people who are mournful and taking a meal to people who are recovering from surgery. It is about baptizing a new child into the family of God. It is about repenting of all that pulls us away from God's kingdom and turning again to the love of God. It is about coming together to sing and pray and learn and be fed as we worship the God who makes that transformation possible. All of those things are what make us a church worth calling home, and none of those can be experienced online.

 

New people are walking through the door on Sunday morning, but they will walk right back out and never come back if we miss the opportunity to invite them personally to become a part of the transformation that is unfolding in and through the ministries of this church. Seth and I have a role to play in that, and so do you. The church staff works hard to enable ministries of transformation to happen at St. John's, but they take place because you carry them out. And people participate in them because you have invited them to join you at a Bible study or a tutoring session or a choir rehearsal. All that we do is about the transformative work of the gospel, and people are starting to notice. Will we take that extra step and invite them to join in the work?

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Evan D. Garner