I was kidnapped by an Evangelical pastor and forced to go to church.
Okay, that sounds a little dramatic, but seriously, my friend Pastor Jeff from Hello Saints asked if he could take me to 3 different types of Protestant church traditions and get my reaction.
So early one Sunday morning he picked me up and the church marathon began.
You can watch the reaction video HERE to get the full story.
For the record, I love our church service tradition, especially sacrament meetings.
Of course, I think there are ways it could be improved, but for the most part, I love it.
For the sake of this newsletter message, I thought it might be interesting for me to highlight some things from these church experiences that could enhance our Sunday worship experience.
Again, there is a lot Protestants could learn from us, but maybe that’s for another newsletter.
Here we go…
1. They assume visitors are coming
I’ve written about this before, but I was impressed with something as basic as signage. The minute you walk in, you know exactly where to go.
2. They leverage audio/visual technology
More technology can seem too flashy for a sacrament meeting, but the engagement factor went way up. I think this can be done in a very respectful manner.
3. They transitioned me into church
The first 20ish minutes of each service was nothing but worship music. After the hustle and bustle of getting to church, it was nice to sit down and mindfully listen to spiritual music for an extended period. It got my mind in a place that was ready to receive a spiritual message. We attempt this with a 4-minute opening song, but I think there is more we could experiment with to get a similar experience.
4. They offered coffee and donuts
Sure, coffee is off the table for us but what about Diet Coke and donuts at the end of each church service? There’s something about simple refreshments that stimulates connections. Get people lingering after the two-hour service and we won’t regret it.
Those are my quick takeaways related to church service structure from attending a different church.
What have you observed from other faith traditions’ church meetings that we could learn from?
Read what others are saying about this message HERE.
Sincerely,
Kurt Francom
Executive Director
Leading Saints
P.S. This is an older newsletter message. Get the up-to-date message weekly by subscribing for free HERE.
