News Flash

The church is unpopular. Not any particular church, either, but the whole concept.

We went door-to-door yesterday, handing out batteries and home-maintenance checklists to people that live where our church meets, as a way of serving the community. There wasn't anyone in our group that was particularly outgoing, but I felt like as one of the leaders, I should be setting an example (well, I tried. And eventually, I ended up doing at least my share of the talking, as much as I wanted to hide in the background).

It should be noted that we did this on a Sunday, between 10 and noon, so most churchgoing people would not be there.

The first person than answered when I rang the bell (after a couple of people not showing up to the door) was an elderly man. I made the big mistake by leading off with "Hi, we're from a new church in the area..." and I never even got to finish with "and we want to give you this spring home maintenance checklist and fresh battery for your smoke detector." I said church, and a wall went up immediately.

We got better responses as time went on. I was in a group with Tim & Abby, and Miriam and her boys (Dawson was home, "sick," the slacker). We subdivided the group, with Tim & Abby and their monster-stroller going down one side of the street while Miriam, Noah, Luke and I went down the other side. The boys would each hold a battery and a checklist, I'd ring the bell (they did for a while, until one of them rang the bell 4 times or so before I could stop him), and if there was an answer, I'd lead off with "Hi. We're just going arounnd the neighborhood, and we'd like to give you this springtime home maintenance checklist to help get your house ready for the summer (both boys reach up, trying to be the first to give away the battery and/or checklist), and Miriam would chime in with a "We're from a new church in the area, Coram Deo, and we just wanted to serve our neighbors." Sometimes she'd add that her husband was the pastor, or that we meet for dinner at 5:00, or make some small talk.

That went over much better. We established why we were there, and the fact that we were from a church was a side-note. I'd estimate that starting off with the word "church" led to a greater than 90% rejection rate. Starting off with "here, take this home-maintenance list" probably gave us a 25% rejetion rate.

A couple of people were really friendly, and willing to talk more than the initial spiel.

Rejection is something that is to be expected from an association with Jesus - he makes that abundantly clear. "Don't be surprised if the world hates you, because it also hated me." But if we are to be hated, I expect it to be because we are Christ-like... not because we are seen as a bunch of withdrawn snooty judgemental pricks. All "persecution" is not created equal. We should be hated for standing alongside the poor and powerless, and for refusing to play the world's games of politics, quid pro quo, and the like.

When the elderly and infirm hear church and reject it because they expect us to come asking for money, or because they have no time for the shallow promises of health, wealth and blessing so often expounded on TV... we are not doing our job.

How amazing would it be if you could knock on a door, announce that you were from a church, and have the person open up, expecting not "here is what we ask of you," but the offer "what do you ask of us?" How can we serve you? How can we follow the footsteps of our Master who came not to be served, but to serve?