You can tell a lot about a church by whether anyone speaks to you

 A few years ago I visited two churches in Geneva on the same day, and the differences between them were striking. Both were churches planted in recent years, both wanted to reach people for the gospel. 

I was very conspicuously a visitor, not least because I was visiting them whilst on my way back to the airport and so had a large suitcase with me.

In the first church, composed of around 30 people, I stood there having a coffee before the meeting started, and again afterwards, and no one said a word to me. In the second church, of several hundred people, as soon as the person at the reception said hello to me and realised I was British she said 'let me find someone who speaks English', and a young woman came over. After chatting for around five minutes, she said 'sorry, my English isn't very good'. I assured here that her English was very good, but I also thought 'how impressive, that someone not very confident in speaking English does so because they want a visitor to the church to feel welcome'.

Unfortunately, that unpredictability of whether anyone will speak to a visitor is the case in too many churches. We are here to reach people for Jesus, to bring them to salvation, and yet it is entirely unpredictable whether anyone will even say Hello to them.

Some might say 'people don't want attention being drawn to them when they visit a church. They just want to slip in and see what they think'. That may be the case with some people, but can I suggest that for every one for whom that is the case, there are four others who leave thinking 'what an unfriendly place. I'm not coming back'. 

Jesus' interactions with people were not simply on the basis of him hoping people would overhear what he said. They were through him speaking to them. There are plenty of ways of making people feel welcome through simply saying 'Hello' and showing interest in them without them feeling overwhelmed.

Besides which, dare I suggest that saying that people want to slip into a church without being spoken to can conveniently let us off the hook of having to pluck up courage and speak to them? I remember when my wife and I visited Tim Keller's church in New York what impressed us was not simply the number of people who said hello to us and asked us where we were from, it was in particular two young women whom I saw out of the corner of my eye heading towards us. I could see from their body language that they were nervous, but came and said hello to us anyway. Why? Because they knew it was part of serving Christ. It isn't to do with whether we feel confident. It's to do with wanting to be a disciple of Jesus in seeking to reach others with the gospel. 

Does that mean sometimes having to make a sacrifice and, despite our shyness, go over and speak to a visitor? Yes it does. 

Does God give us His Holy Spirit to empower us to do what we think we can't? You bet.

Does that mean sometimes we still feel shy and have to step out and trust God to give us the right words to say to the person? Absolutely.

If you are a Christian, you and I are here to build His kingdom, including bringing others to come to know Him. That starts in simple ways, like saying Hello so that there is half a chance of that developing into a longer conversation, that the person visiting might feel sufficiently made welcome to come back again, and then again, and then come to know Jesus, and bring along other friends of their own.

The response of the woman at the well in John 4 from Jesus speaking to her was for her to go and tell all her friends about him.

Welcoming visitors, even if we are naturally shy, is part of our spiritual act of worship. Let's do it!

You can tell a lot about a church by how the worship leader looks

 The bible makes clear that when a church meets together it is meant to be a body experience, with everyone playing their part, not a few people leading at the front with the congregation as spectators/backing singers.

The bible says 'When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation' (1 Corinthians 14:26). It also makes clear what these are for. 'Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.'. For everyone to both expect to have something to bring when the church meets together and to actually speak out what they have really matters, but you wouldn't know it to look at many churches.

Too many churches who claim to believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit don't actually reflect that in practice in their meetings. As someone has put it, they are 'functionally cessationist', claiming to be believe in the gifts of the Spirit but in practice looking little different to churches who do not believe in the gifts. You can detect this in several ways:

1. Does the church actively encourage contributions? Too many leaders, used to speaking in public, forget how scary it can be for many people. Equally, for new Christians or those who have joined from churches where the congregation did not play a role, how are they to know that not only is it normal for them to have gifts to bring, but it is actively expected and encouraged, unless this is regularly stated? Closely related to this is:

2. Does the church set such a high bar for bringing contributions that they are discouraged in reality? This is often manifested in asking anyone with a contribution to share it with the leader at the front before bringing it. I get that there are some contributions with such potential significance that it is right for others to weigh it first, but the reality is that words of that significance are few and far between. (If only they were more often!). If that rule is applied to all or most contributions to be brought, it discourages those lacking in confidence or newly stepping out. Yes, it is very important that words which are brought are scripturally-based, but to be honest, if words are regularly brought that go against scripture, that says more about issues that need to be addressed on the quality and effectiveness of teaching in the church.

3. Does the church actually make room for the congregation to bring contributions during the worship? Too many churches I visit sing one song after another with no space inbetween. 

4. Does the church limit contributions to a particular slot during the service?  Sometimes churches have the 'one song after another' approach and then say 'before we have the notices, does anyone have anything they want to share?' Not only is separating it out like this psychologically creating another version of the 'high bar', they are also missing out on so much. Great worship which includes gifts and contributions is often like a jigsaw, with a song being followed by someone praying on the same theme, which then triggers someone else to prophesy, that then leads to another song that builds people up on the same subject. (This also requires worship leaders and bands to be sensitive and flexible, changing the song they planned to have next when that is appropriate!)

5. You can tell a lot by how the worship leader looks. Do they look out towards the congregation, keeping an eye for someone who has stood up and looks like they may be about to open their mouth? Do they look for whether someone has come to the front and is waiting to speak? Or do they just look into the middle distance, oblivious to anyone but themselves?

But, someone might say, what if someone brings something unbiblical in what they say? If the church is well taught, those occasions should hopefully be few but, even if that arises sometimes and requires leaders to have to think on the spot how to respond, isn't that part of the responsibilities of being a leader? Far better to face up to that and be biblical in how gifts are encouraged and used than have a cautious 'never take a risk' approach which is then reflected in the wider culture of the church.