Church hopping observations
As a retired pastor I've had a lot of fun visiting various congregations in our travels. I've just done a blog entry of my observations. Even if you haven't been in the habit of attending churches i...
Forum Discussion
A day latter, I feel that I need do a follow up on the so called "Church Hopping" from my experience. It may be different in the Churches you attend.
I am of the Baptist faith and our home Church in Knoxville, TN is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. We have been members for over 40 years. Present attendance is over 1000 at Sunday Worship Service. During that time, I have greeted several visitors as a lay person. Unless you were seated on the isle on which the pastor and family was seated that Sunday during the "meet and greet" time, I doubt that the visitor would get to meet the Pastor before the morning Service. Then, after Church with 3 exits you might miss him again. Not always, but frequently, he will announce that he will be at the Welcome Center if you want to stop by. If not this way and you really want to meet the pastor, I am sure an Usher or someone at the Welcome Center would take you to him.
Now to our "Church" away from home. Using the SBC website, I try to find a church in the area we are staying. Generally with good results. Our experiences are that SBC Churches outside the Bible Belt are generally small. Maybe 50 to 100 there at worship time on Sunday morning. If no SBC Church, I use the web and other means to find a Baptist Church. I generally know weeks before I get there, the Church we will be attending. We will be the the area for 2 weeks to a month.
I like to arrive arrive about 5 minutes before the scheduled morning Worship Service. I have learned over the years that Baptist have their "regular" seating spot. Most of the time on the isle. I like to sit in the front, maybe 8 or 10 rows back. We pick a pew that is empty when we go in and sit in the middle. Latter at the meet and greet time, if no one is there we can move to the isle.
Most always there is someone to meet you at the door. If not, then at the Welcome Center. We like to introduce ourselves by name and tell all we meet that we are "full time RV'ers" and will be visiting for so many Sundays. If this does not start a conversation, the next thing we generally are asked is "where are you from"? If traveling out of the south, the southern drawl will surely spark some comments. We say "East Tennessee". That brings up the Smoky Mtn's., Nashville and of course Dolly Wood.
Some Pastors will ask for first time visitors to stand and introduce themselves. Others just to raise their hands.
After Church, we make it a point to meet the Pastor, do the intro and thank him for being there for us. The wife generally gets a hug, I get the hand shake.
We have visited some of these Churches several times over the 14 years that we have been roaming North America. It is surprising how often we are remembered. Not by name., but by face and that we are RV'ers from Tennessee.
I am not going to say that all visits have been perfect, but I am hard pressed to recall a negative visit. I think that if we start our visit to Church with the reason we are going, all will be great. It's all about Him, not us.
I am of the Baptist faith and our home Church in Knoxville, TN is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. We have been members for over 40 years. Present attendance is over 1000 at Sunday Worship Service. During that time, I have greeted several visitors as a lay person. Unless you were seated on the isle on which the pastor and family was seated that Sunday during the "meet and greet" time, I doubt that the visitor would get to meet the Pastor before the morning Service. Then, after Church with 3 exits you might miss him again. Not always, but frequently, he will announce that he will be at the Welcome Center if you want to stop by. If not this way and you really want to meet the pastor, I am sure an Usher or someone at the Welcome Center would take you to him.
Now to our "Church" away from home. Using the SBC website, I try to find a church in the area we are staying. Generally with good results. Our experiences are that SBC Churches outside the Bible Belt are generally small. Maybe 50 to 100 there at worship time on Sunday morning. If no SBC Church, I use the web and other means to find a Baptist Church. I generally know weeks before I get there, the Church we will be attending. We will be the the area for 2 weeks to a month.
I like to arrive arrive about 5 minutes before the scheduled morning Worship Service. I have learned over the years that Baptist have their "regular" seating spot. Most of the time on the isle. I like to sit in the front, maybe 8 or 10 rows back. We pick a pew that is empty when we go in and sit in the middle. Latter at the meet and greet time, if no one is there we can move to the isle.
Most always there is someone to meet you at the door. If not, then at the Welcome Center. We like to introduce ourselves by name and tell all we meet that we are "full time RV'ers" and will be visiting for so many Sundays. If this does not start a conversation, the next thing we generally are asked is "where are you from"? If traveling out of the south, the southern drawl will surely spark some comments. We say "East Tennessee". That brings up the Smoky Mtn's., Nashville and of course Dolly Wood.
Some Pastors will ask for first time visitors to stand and introduce themselves. Others just to raise their hands.
After Church, we make it a point to meet the Pastor, do the intro and thank him for being there for us. The wife generally gets a hug, I get the hand shake.
We have visited some of these Churches several times over the 14 years that we have been roaming North America. It is surprising how often we are remembered. Not by name., but by face and that we are RV'ers from Tennessee.
I am not going to say that all visits have been perfect, but I am hard pressed to recall a negative visit. I think that if we start our visit to Church with the reason we are going, all will be great. It's all about Him, not us.
