Comments on: So Many Churches, So Little Time

By: Caroline Divine

Caroline Divine — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 01:12:01 +0000

The RC and EC congregations I’ve been in often don’t publish who’s preaching because they don’t want people to come because of the personality of the preacher — a lot of people have their favorites and follow them around (I mean a lot of people who are already members of the congregation) and church staffs try to keep that at bay to avoid the whole cult of personality thing.

But it would be really helpful, in any congregation, for the place to explain at the very least what people are likely to find at the worship service, what goes on there, how long it lasts, more or less, who is welcome there, and so on.

I remember HOWLING when I found an Episcopal website explaining what a visitor was likely to find and saying something like “you will not be embarrassed; you will not have to introduce yourself” — now, I know this was meant to welcome a) introverts b) shy people and c) (perhaps especially) people who had been badly burned by the whole altar-call thing. But as someone who had previously been in a very welcoming, warm Catholic (and largely African American) congregation where we ALWAYS asked visitors to introduce themselves (of course, they could choose not to and just sit in the pew and be quiet) so that we could say directly “we’re really glad you’re here” and offer a closing prayer thanking God for bringing people to us who were always a gift, wherever they might be coming from, I found the whole “don’t worry, you won’t have to talk to us and we won’t talk to you” approach offensive. I joined the Episcopal Church anyway, but I’d been to real live congregations in the EC already. For me that web message would have been a killer.

So, there’s another challenge: you never know who your potential visitor is.

I really like the FAQ guidelines you offer, Steve. Thanks.

By: LT

LT — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 23:36:53 +0000

The main reason, I think, why people look at our church websites, is to decide whether they want to come this Sunday. So it should say what is happening this Sunday. And btw, that whole thing that some UU ministers get into about not publishing their sermon titles, or what is happening this Sunday, because it shouldn’t matter !!! What’s that about?

By: Caroline Divine

Caroline Divine — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 23:36:15 +0000

It’s actually not UCC. It’s Congregational from the Congregationalists that didn’t merge with the UCC when the Congregational and E&R (Evangelical and Reformed, that’s the name of one [former] denomination, though of course it was itself a merger) merge. There are still a bunch of independent Congregational churches out there. I think they are members of a small federation but the name of it escapes me. Park Street Chuch is definitely not part of the UCC. But it’s worth visiting.

So how was it? Oh wait, you’ve posted on it. I’m going to read all about it now.

C.Div.

By: PeaceBang

PeaceBang — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 21:27:22 +0000

Sorry. I meant to say Park Street Church, which is the conservative UCC Church.

By: Steve Caldwell

Steve Caldwell — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:03:40 +0000

PB,

You may want to check out the online summary from Rev. Dan Harper’s 2006 GA workshop on “Creating Great Content for Church Websites” … located online here:

http://www.uua.org/ga/ga06/5011.html

One of his recommendations is to update the congregational web site weekly if possible.

The UUA Office of Electronic Communications has some recommendations for congregational web sites online here:

http://www.uua.org/CONG/congsites.html

This page contains a suggested list of basic content that every congregational web site should have.

One suggestion from the UUA Electronic Communications folks is to have a FAQ (frequently asked question) page to answer basic visitor questions like the following questions:

1. What should I [and my children] wear to this church? [This is by far the most frequent query]

2. Is there childcare/Sunday School during church?

3. If my child doesn’t separate well, can she or he stay with me in the service?

4. Are there any [insert race] people in this congregation?

5. Are people of [race] welcome in this congregation?

6. Are there bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgendered people in this congregation? Are they welcome?

7. Are there people in the congregation who believe [insert belief here]?

8. What goes on during the worship services?

There’s also an email discussion list for UU congregational web site folks called “Websters” … info on this resource can be found online here:

http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/websters

By: boyinthebands

boyinthebands — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 17:01:37 +0000

Back from church. I was thinking — as my mind was wandering off during the service music — that perhaps PB had gone to Old South, Copley Square.

Of course, when I think Old South I get a set of very un-Boston, un-Congregationalist thoughts. Mostly Greek Revival houses and barbecue.

By: Songbird

Songbird — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 16:15:15 +0000

I’m pretty sure it’s an Episcopal church, Peacebang.

By: boyinthebands

boyinthebands — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 14:54:32 +0000

I thought Old North was Episcoplian. I mean I used to think it was UCC, until I saw the rector come out after a wedding dressed in not-Congo attire.

You think they would make that clear. Using lanterns or something.

By: Chalicechick

Chalicechick — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 13:42:53 +0000

Props to CC’s church which has a website that is updated every week with what’s going on, and has the registration forms for the retreat downloadable from the website.