3 Lessons and Questions from my Visit to a Tourist Church

Earlier in the summer my family visited a tourist church. I call it a “tourist church” because the church was in the heart of the downtown of a major tourist destination and also because about half of the people attending the church that morning were tourists. I know because the pastor asked the congregation at the start of the service.

My family and I were from “nearby,” even though we sat in our minivan for about 7 hours as we drove down the highway to get there. There were others seated in the pews that morning who were visiting from the UK, Taiwan, South Korea, and from states as far away as Texas.

1. Guiding Visitors

The pastor of the church did a great job of making everyone feel welcome, and he even invited visitors to share their prayer requests. At the beginning of the service, he also let everyone know how the service was structured—he informed us of how we would know when to stand, when to repeat or respond, and so forth. This helped me feel fairly comfortable, which I can say isn’t always the case when I visit a church and don’t know what to expect.

So, my question is…

Question 1: What can you and your church do to help visitors feel less awkward when they attend your church?

Most of our churches could probably improve in this area. And yet, I don’t think every church has to greet visitors the same way. For example, I wouldn’t recommend to most churches that they start their services by openly asking where all the visitors are from, like they did at the tourist church. But it worked well for their setting.

2. Offering isn’t just About Money

When the offering was collected at the church, I was struck by how this part of the service wasn’t just about giving money. The bulletin clearly indicated this. It stated: “The Offering of our Time, Talents, Trust, and Treasure to God.” And as we passed the offering plate, we sang,“We are an Offering,” where we proclaimed to God, “We lift our voices. We lift our hands. We lift our lives up to you. We are an offering.”

I thought, this is awesome! What a great opportunity for a church to regularly and consistently remind one another that they are not their own—that not only their money, but their whole lives belong to God. Regularly making that confession to God in a service would be a powerful spiritual practice.

So, my question is…

Question 2: How can members of your church regularly remind one another and confess that their whole lives belong to God?

3. Responding After the Sermon

At the tourist church, the service continued for another 30 minutes after the pastor finished his 20 minute sermon (Yes, it was that short. I timed it, as I often do when I visit churches 🙂 ). This meant that we were all given plenty of opportunity to respond to what we had been challenged to consider in the sermon and through the Scripture reading. We responded with prayer, singing, thinking, and receiving the pastor’s blessing.

I had a very different experience at the church I had visited the previous week. When the sermon ended at that church (I’m not sure how long the sermon was, but it seemed longer 🙂 ), the pastor said a short prayer and then said (and I quote), “You are now dismissed.” I was floored. I was literally given no chance to respond.

These two contrasting experiences got me thinking that unless we think of church only with a consumeristic mindset (“I’m here to receive—to consume”), then people really need a chance to participate and respond to what they hear in a sermon.

In the “olden days” Pentecostals used to have regular altar calls to respond. Obviously, there are other ways people can respond, as we did at the tourist church. But, either way I don’t feel like the pastor praying a short prayer on my behalf at the end of the sermon is really giving the congregation much of a chance to respond by engaging God.

One could argue that our true response to God happens with how we live our lives after we leave the church building. True enough. But I still think starting with an immediate response to God, and in communion with other believers, is an important part of worship. Otherwise, why not just stay home and listen to a sermon on TV?

So, my question is…

Question 3. How does your church give you a chance to respond to what you hear from the Scripture and in the sermon?

Question: Have you learned any lessons from visiting other churches? Leave a comment below by clicking here.

You might also be interested in these posts:

• 3 Lessons from My Visit to a Pentecostal Church
• Bring the “Testimonies” back to Church!
• 4 Lessons from Worship in Liturgical Churches

Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D., is the author of Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit (forthcoming) as well as three academic books, including The Lord is the Spirit. He is a theology professor at Horizon College and Seminary and serves on the Theological Study Commission for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. You can follow him on Facebook or on Twitter.