Looking forward to next Sunday, do you intend to bring a guest? If so, I have come to realize that a church service can be rather intimidating to a visitor who seldom attends.
Quite often I have brought a Sunday guest, and on the way home asked, “What did you think?” And a typical answer is, “Because I’ve never heard any of those songs before, I felt kind of stupid.” Or, “When they collected the money, I was embarrassed that I wasn’t ready to put anything in.”
Do you know what I do now?
On the way to church, I tell people what to expect. I kind of run through the service with them. I say things like, “This week you might just want to listen to what people sing, and visitors aren’t expected to contribute anything in the offering.”
Guess what? Since telling my guest what to anticipate, nobody says to me anymore, “I was really nervous.” Problem solved, just like that.
I am grateful that I continue to hear how positively readers are responding to my latest book entitled The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. This book is available at Amazon.com by clicking here.
In this book, I offer some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what their pastor has said from the pulpit.
You will find a variety of other helpful resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.
