Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

January 2015 – What makes first time visitors not want to return to a particular church? Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay and author of the newly released Autopsy of a Deceased Church, found some unexpected answers to that question during an informal poll on the social network Twitter. 

Although Rainer admits the Twitter responses are not a scientific poll, he nevertheless found the responses to be a fascinating insight into why guests might not visit a church a second time. The responses were posted at his blog at thomrainer.com.  

Number one on the list? A “stand up and greet one another” time during the worship service. In a follow-up blog, Rainer posted representative comments that demonstrated the strong emotions engendered by visitors who expressed their dislike for the greeting time during worship.