Scrappy Church by Thom S. Rainer

Author:Thom S. Rainer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion/Christian Church/General
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2018-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Scrappy Churches Are Welcoming Churches

THE SECRET GUEST.

It sounds a bit mysterious, maybe like the CIA for churches. But it’s really one of the most helpful tools I’ve ever used or seen.

The concept is simple. You recruit someone who has never been to your church to visit your church. Perhaps you offer them a $50 gift card for their efforts. You ask them to attend your church and pay careful attention to everything they see and experience. In fact, it’s even better if they complete a secret guest survey. We’ve made one available for you at the end of this book. You can also get a digital copy of the Secret Guest Survey at ThomRainer.com/scrappychurch.

Make certain you tell them to be brutally honest. You want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly.

If appropriate, take the guest to a meal or to coffee within a couple of days of their visit. Let them go over the survey point by point. Listen carefully. Don’t interrupt them unless you need clarification. Soak it in. Even if it’s painful, soak it in.

We call this process “looking in the mirror.” And to be clear, it’s not always a fun and enjoyable process.

Frankly, I don’t like looking in the mirror at myself. Our bathroom has a lot of lights. It has too many lights. I am able to see myself very clearly. It’s not a pretty picture. I really look a lot older than I think I am. And though I’ve never considered myself handsome, those lights and that big mirror remind me again and again that I am both old and ugly.

Ugh. I really don’t like mirrors.

So why would you put yourself through the pain of looking in the mirror for your church? It’s pretty simple. You can’t improve unless you know the areas you need to improve.

And scrappy churches are constantly seeking to improve.

Bruce is the pastor of a scrappy church. Like the other scrappy churches mentioned in this book, his church is an example of a turnaround church. Many deemed it an impossible turnaround church. Faith Church is in a transition neighborhood. In fact, the neighborhood has been in some type of transition for over twenty years. And like many neighborhood churches, Faith Church has not handled the transitions well.

The glory days of the church were more than twenty-five years ago when worship attendance hit its peak of 325. Just a few years ago, the attendance dipped below 75. Many in the church thought closure was imminent. And Bruce admits he was among them.

“I had given up,” he told us. “Yeah, I really thought closure was inevitable. Honestly, I was working on my own exit plan.”

We were obviously curious. The church was in a healthy recovery. After three scrappy years, attendance was more than 120. Hope was back. The gloom-and-doom attitude of earlier years had been replaced with God-given optimism and excitement. So, we asked the obvious question: What happened?

“I read your book Breakout Churches,” he told us. “That book was a wake-up call for me.

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