Their Eyes, Not Our Eyes

As I think of First Free and reaching those who are exploring the claims of Christianity, I realize the one we need to reach have no church background or even any church memory. They don’t think about church in any form or fashion. Which means we need to change how we think about church and ministry.

Imagine a scale where one end is what we prefer and what we are used to and someone’s eternal destiny lies on the other end. With that perspective, “what we prefer” is really irrelevant. What price should you and I, as Christ followers, be willing to pay so those who don’t have a relationship with Jesus can have one?

The correct answer ought to be, ‘whatever price is required.’ In practical terms, what lost people need is more important than what you and I need. For us, what we do on a Sunday is just a matter of personal preference. For them, their eternal destiny hangs in the balance. So when I have to weigh the importance of issues like service times, musical styles, décor, how we greet, or sermon titles against someone’s eternal destiny on any given Sunday, it’s really not much of a debate. Love forces us to put others’ needs above our own personal preferences.

James Emery White’s Church & Culture blog this week said:
“not every guest who ventures to visit your church is created equal. On the broadest level, there are churched guests and unchurched guests. By churched, I mean they have a church background, are relatively comfortable and familiar with the church world, and are there as a consumer. The unchurched do not have a church background, are not comfortable or familiar with church world, and are there (at best) as an explorer.”

What I get from this is that we want anyone to feel welcomed, but we want to work harder at reaching explorers. What difference does this make? Quite a bit.

Consider one of the most commonly suggested steps to making a first time guest feel welcomed: designated parking. This can be done in a variety of ways. Using signage marked ‘guests’ or ‘VIPs’ or turning on lights that simply direct first-time guests toward a designated parking area where they find volunteers who greet them, offer first-time guest materials, and even escort them into the church and through any children ministry registration needs they might have.

It sounds impressive. It looks impressive. But who wants this kind of treatment? Only “churched” people love that kind of welcome, recognition, guest parking. The typical first-time unchurched guest wants anything but recognition. They don’t want to be singled-out, targeted, or asked to do anything. They don’t even want to take advantage of putting their child in our children’s ministry. At least, not at first.

What we are trying to do is design our guest experience through the lens of an explorer. We want to put ourselves in their shoes, or at least try to. This is hard to do because we are conditioned to see church through our eyes, not their eyes. Let’s strive to do what we can to reach those whose eternity hangs in the balance.
Mark "the Bru" Brunott