What potential New Members want in a spiritual community
The first question asked of the group was:
What Are You Looking For in a Spiritual Community?
The following are responses to the brainstorm. Some may be repetitive and others are contradictory (different people want different things). I will amplify a few that were better communicated in person.
- Involvement (personal experiences)
- Welcoming fellowship – embracing
- Connection, belonging – “Cheers” – NORM! (the quote from the TV show – want to feel known and appreciated)
- Recharging/revitalizing
- Awe – mystery – presence
- Non-exclusion (this covered a lot of territory including race, age, gender, and sexuality)
- Family programs
- Variety in music
- Flexible service times (it’s hard for some to make 10am/11am Sunday)
- Positive agenda (build up people)
- Personal relevance
- Location (close to home, mainly)
- Facility comfort/aesthetics/accommodations
- Continuity in tradition
- History
- Safe space – intentional (meaning that the community work intentionally to generate a safe space for members to be open and honest without fear of politics and reprisal)
- Framework to do good works
- Opportunity to share one anothers’ journeys on a deeper level
- Alternative timing/schedules
- Green – eco-conscious
- Youth programs/young adult (this and Sunday School were important even to people who had no children and didn’t plan to have any)
- Over 30, No Children – fill that hole (this is the feeling that churches have programs for youth and young adults, programs for children and families, and programs for older adults but nothing for this group)
- Diversity/acceptance
- Inspiring Sunday message – NOT political (political meaning non-church issues)
- No discount (this is a core value of the camp where the retreat was held. It means no discounting others or yourself)
- Direct service in the community
- Intergenerational relationships (the person mentioned a church that paired up older adults as “foster grandparents” for new members)
- Welcoming community
- Accepting people as they are (we talked a bit about dress and “come as you are” as well as accepting people around other traits)
- Empowering people to serve rather than trying to fill
offices - Pastoral care
- Diversity in services
- Ceremony & ritual
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Remember that this is what this group of people WANT in a church. There was no discussion around whether or not these ideas were practical or fit within the belief structure of the church in question. The primary purpose of asking the question was to get the participants thinking about what they should evaluate when looking at potential church homes.
Inside the heads of potential members
In the next few days, I will present some information from the Reconnecting with Faith – Finding Your Home retreat. I do so in the hopes that it will be useful to churches and new member programs in particular.
The information results from brainstorming done by the participants of the most recent retreat. There are three sets of information:
- What are potential members looking for?
- What are potential members looking to avoid?
- What is stopping you [the retreaters] from getting involved or more involved in a faith community?
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Please keep in mind that this was a small group (about 10) in New Jersey. The needs in your area may be different. Also, this group was concentrated in the 20-40 age group, though we had representation of older folks. This group was predominantly white and middle class as well. A few of the participants were coming from a non-Presbyterian Christian denomination.
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