Dear beloved in Christ,

We are in the heart of Lent, which means that in addition to continuing to dive deeply into our life of faith together, we are also preparing for the holy work of celebration at Easter. Easter Sunday is often a time of welcoming guests and old friends we may not have seen recently, into our churches for that celebration. Last month I suggested that we might use Lent as an opportunity to remind each other of the high expectations of our baptismal covenant. At the same time, we also would do well to lower the barriers to entry, many of which we aren’t even aware of. Perhaps in the coming season of Easter, energized by the guests we welcome on Easter Sunday, we might take some time to step back and consider what might be keeping people from getting to know the treasure we have in our communities of faith.

The hardest thing for people who have been in a church a while (clergy or lay) is to see the things that have become just part of the scenery. So as you think about what might help open your welcome to people in the community, you might enlist some folks newer to your congregation or even someone from another congregation or from the community to give you some honest feedback. You might also take some time to walk around and make a video of your physical space; then watch it with a small group and see what you notice. You might imagine what it is like for someone moving from viewing you from afar to being a part of your community.

As you approach your church from across the street, what do you notice? Is the main entrance clear? Are the grounds cared for? Is there signage that communicates something about what is happening inside? Are there physical barriers that communicate unwelcome? If you didn’t know anything about your congregation, what feeling would you get from looking at the building?

As people come into your building for an event, a class, or a community activity, what do they encounter? Are your spaces accessible to people with different types of mobility? Can you easily find spaces (especially restrooms!)? What do your bulletin boards communicate – an active engaged congregation or one that worries about deficit budgets and hasn’t updated their activities? What about your artwork – is only from the past or does it only represent one kind of image for God and God’s people?

As people engage your worshipping community, what do they experience? Is your worship easy to follow? Remember, not even every Episcopalian is fully familiar with the Prayer Book and may need either clear printed materials or a friend to help them navigate worship. Is your congregation trained to help people know what to do at communion? Are announcements clear and welcoming or full of insider acronyms? Are people invited into fellowship space and invited to join conversations or left on their own?

As people settle into your congregation, do they get ongoing mentorship to help them connect and grow? Do they continue to experience community and hospitality? Are they invited to tell their story and bring their full selves to the congregation? Are new perspectives considered? Are people reluctant to step up because they fear being unsupported or stuck forever in their positions?

These are HUGE questions. And even our most welcoming congregations aren’t perfect. But sometimes it takes just a brief moment of stepping back and looking with a newcomer’s eye to see some things that might help make it that much easier for someone curious about you to step inside.

While that is plenty to consider on its own, we also need to be very aware that the majority of people who want to visit will first check you out online. Many, many visitors will have read your website, scoured your social media, and watched worship – sometimes for months – before even stepping in the door the first time. So you might do the same tour you just did on your physical space in your virtual spaces. Does your website communicate clear information with the most important information visible on the homepage? Does your online presence communicate ongoing engagement or the same thing week after week? Does your website tell an engaging story about who you are or only a “just the facts” kind of history?

Again, no place can do ALL the things. But so often we get used to the way we do things or the way things look that we fail to realize we have created unintentional barriers for people.

By no means will some good signage and landscaping reverse the trend of membership in organized religion. But there might be some things we could do with relatively low investment of time and money that might help tip the scale for folks who are curious and are looking our way.

What we have as people of God is life-transforming, life-giving faith in a God who does more than we could ask or imagine. We have a God with us in the full humanity of our lives. We have a God of resurrection! And that’s worth sharing. 

Peace,