Recently I heard something on the radio that I had never heard before: an advertisement about mystery church shoppers. In my past I was a mystery shopper for a while and I am familiar with how that works, but I had never heard it applied to churches before. The speaker in the ad stated “Churches know why people stay. They want to know why people DON'T stay.” For a fee, the mystery shopping company will send a “shopper” to your church. Later, you receive a report informing you of the shopper’s experience in your church and their impressions, everything from how clean the bathroom and sanctuary were to how friendly or unfriendly the church members were to the quality of the sermon to parking availability. That set me thinking about what does cause a visitor to decide to return, or not, to a church. As someone who has spent the better part of the last two years being a visitor in multiple churches and denominations, I tried to think about my experiences as a guest and how I felt. When I felt really drawn to a church, what was the reason. Was it a clean bathroom? No, not really, although that certainly matters. Was it the newness of the decor or the size of the building? No. Was it convenient parking? Friendly greeters? The music? The sermon? It really wasn't any one of those things by themselves. They are all significant. I think the key difference is relationships. Our God is all about relationships, and as His people, we should be also. When I visit a church and someone there seems genuinely interested in a relationship with my family and me, that blesses me hugely. The priorities in our life are the things we focus on. So I hope the next time I am at church and I see someone I don't know, I make them a priority. Philipppians 2:3 says “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” This is my prayer, and something I am hopefully getting better at.
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