Why people go to church
Why do people go to church? I’ve written previous Ethical Musings posts on this subject, including Why bother with church? and Time to market the church . More recently, the Gallup poll has conducted some excellent research on the subject. I especially commend this post by fellow priest, Jon White, Why people go to church found on the Episcopal CafĂ© website. Jon helpfully summarizes the research, which has strong implications for congregations that wish to grow numerically. My last post discussed the question of what was Jesus’ brand. If we believe that others along with us should follow Jesus and that part of following Jesus is to gather regularly with God’s people to worship God, deepen our spirituality, build community, and to serve others then having an attractive brand is vital. Even more important is to have a community that attracts and successfully integrates newcomers. This requires: · Practicing genuine hospitality. We must learn to welcome the stra