Why Was I So Hard On That Church I Visited?

Last week’s blog post, Why Some Great Churches Never Impact Their Community, got a lot of feedback on Facebook, Twitter and email. Several readers were concerned that I had been harder on the church than I needed to be. I want to address those issues in today’s post by retelling my visit with one simple change. Instead of the visitor being me, imagine that the prospective guest was a new convert trying to find the church building for the first time.

May 30, 2017

by Karl Vaters

Last week’s blog post, Why Some Great Churches Never Impact Their Community, got a lot of feedback on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Several readers were concerned that I had been harder on the church than I needed to be.

I want to address those issues in today’s post. But, instead of addressing them one-by-one, let’s tackle all four (and maybe others) by retelling my visit with one simple change. Instead of the visitor being me, imagine that the prospective guest was a new convert trying to find the church building for the first time.

Author

Karl Vaters

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.

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