Easter has come and gone for most folks. As I talk with friends, family, and experience services during the Easter season, I am reminded of several truths pertaining to the unchurched that I wanted to share. Obviously, it is harder for most of us in the church to understand what the unchurched feel like when they step into a church for a special service. Honestly, the unchurched probably experience a little anxiety about what they should expect. Imagine yourself as a guest in the home of a dignitary in a foreign country. You do not know the language, customs, people, or what’s expected of you.

Likewise, visitors to your church are often unfamiliar with local church customs, terminology, people, or expectations of those attending. Many are coming with family for the festivities that often follow Easter services. Because of this, Christian leaders need to make an extra effort to explain events that may happen during the course of a church service. If the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in operation in your church, like prophetic utterances, you should be ready to explain what is happening and that it is a normal part of your service.

Additionally, ministers should work hard to simplify messages to the unchurched. Most people who were not raised in church do not know what a “pew” or an “altar” is for, or what “washed in the blood” means. So, if your people ask someone next to them if they “want to go to the altar,” they just might not know what to do. Christians often use these types of words without thinking, but the unchurched have no idea what you are talking about. Thinking through your message and instructions for the unchurched can pay big dividends. Adding multimedia segments or skits to your message can also break up the service and interject a current day illustration for your message theme that’s captivating and relevant.

Sadly, most of the unchurched do not know the words to our modern choruses either, so they just stand there and watch everyone else sing. Prayerfully consider using a combination of older and newer music and hymns to accent special services to the unchurched. And lastly, it appears that most of the unchurched appreciate shorter times of worship and preaching than our normal church family (well, some of our church family). The fast pace of society today and our shortened attention span has conditioned many—outside and inside the church—to expect an event that has variety in shorter segments to keep our attention. The point is not to keep from preaching what God wants, but to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance on how to treat your guests the way you would want to be treated in an unfamiliar setting…then they just might come back.

God’s richest blessings,
Marshall

Dr. Windsor is founder and president of Windsor Evangelistic Ministries, Inc. A Registered, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.