Questions, questions…

I have been busy sending out questionaires to hard pressed churches all over the country. Thank you to those who have replied. I have been asking some simple questions –

Are you open?

How many visitors to you get?

Do you have guide books available?

Is there any information about the Christian Faith?

How big is your usual congregation?

How important is a ministry to visitors to you and your church?

How would you describe your churchmanship/ worship tradition?

All sorts of thing have come up from the good people who have replied to me. As expected, it is very difficult to guestimate the number of people coming. One lady estimated very few but then counted up the entries in the visitors book and was shocked at how many there were! A few have taken exception, or been confused by my question about churchmanship. I included it to test out my theory that evangelical churches are less interested in the casual visitor/tourist than other strands of church life are. This seems to be proven by my replies. Also, generally, the more catholic churches are, the more they devote time and energy to their visitors. It is fascinating to get the replies.

One other thing that comes up is how this sort of ministry can so often seem like a burden to a small congregation. There are some small rural churches out there who receive vast numbers of visitors. It is good that people come but it does have it’s costs too. Very few have reported that they are locked each day although there are some churches which are open a day or two a week – even some quite big ones which you might think would want to be open.

It is fascinating stuff and there is still much more to learn. Nigel