Fishhook had the opportunity to work with an IUPUI writing class. The students were given the opportunity to secret worship a church and write about their experience. This is a 5 week blog series with their stories and experiences!
I am someone who has attended a home church my whole life.
Because of this, I have a preconceived notion of what a church should look like and how the hospitality at any given church matches, or comes close to, the hospitality of my home church. I had to learn how to distance myself from that so I could fairly evaluate a church very different from my own. I took my boyfriend with me for this experience. He is very skeptical about churches in general and does not claim a faith. I thought it might be interesting to see how he felt about the visit.
Before attending, we visited the church’s website. The church’s website is modern and inviting. It is easy to navigate and even has a little section for guests detailing what to expect, how the service is run, etc. However, the website is not accessible without Flash so when attempting to view from a mobile device or an iPad, it is not available.
Upon arrival at the church there were greeters at the doors to welcome you in. While this was nice, they only said good morning. None of them approached us and said, “Hello, my name is John,” or asked how we were doing. No one even showed us the way to the worship center, which to me was a little unnerving because we simply had to guess where to go by following others. My boyfriend, however, preferred they not talk to us because he was more comfortable simply doing what we came there to do and getting out. I think this creates a lose, lose situation. Depending on personality type, a guest like myself may want interaction from the members and to be ushered into the new experience, but there are also people who feel that they want to be left alone to make their own judgments without being pressured to interact.
Once the service began, there were five people on stage who were ‘leading’ the songs. To me it seemed more like they were having a concert. The main woman was singing a descant, or separate part, the whole time and it was full of fancy runs and riffs that no average person would be able to do, which made everyone else seem like her back up singer. As someone who primarily feels the spirit and worships through song, I felt left out. Everyone on stage was worshiping and I was just watching. They had the words displayed on a screen to either side of the stage, but no music was provided and you couldn’t hear the proper notes over the main woman’s decorative runs. As a guest, the worship music was entertaining but it did not fulfill my need to connect with God through my own participation in it.
The sermon was about how we are sheep and the Lord is our shepherd. The sermon was quite enjoyable and very appropriate and applicable. In the worship folder, provided on arrival, there was a sheet that had the main verse the message was derived from and some fill in the blanks to make the message more interactive and to provide you with a means of taking notes. Luckily, I had a pen in my purse, or I wouldn’t have been able to participate in this way.
Once the message was over, the pastor mentioned that if you were a first time guest, you could visit the guest services table in the main lobby to get some more information and a free gift. When we got to the table, there was no one there, so we stood next to the table until a woman showed up and asked if we were guests. When we responded yes, she handed us a gift bag and told us about the ministries and programs that the church offered for our age group. She invited us back and we left. In the gift bag, there were pamphlets about what the church’s goals are and about their small group offerings. There was a notepad and a coffee cup with the church’s logo on them. It also had two coupons for a free coffee or hot chocolate in their café.
Overall, I felt slightly unfulfilled after this experience. The efforts made to make a guest feel welcomed happened at the end of the service once my opinions were already formed. I felt lost and like I needed to be directed upon arrival and no one did that. In the pamphlets from the gift bag, the church recommends that you try it three times before making a decision in order to truly get to know what the church is like. I don’t know if that would help, but it's possible they're right and I should return.