Unfriendly church members
Unsafe and unclean children's areas
No place to get information
Bad church websites
Poor signage
Insider church language
Boring or bad service
Members telling guests that they were in their seat or pew
Dirty facilities
The list was taken from Thom Rainer's book, "I Will." The focus of the book is on encouraging church members to think less about what they want from the church and, instead, consider what they can give to the church. Rainer, however, also provides some thoughts on what a church needs to do to encourage first time guests to make a second visit. Reviewing the list, it seems like church leaders shouldn't even need to be told that a messy or unkept children's classes or play areas are a huge turnoff for parents. Making people move from "your" seat is just plain rude. I wonder what kind of a difference it would make for more churches if they took this list seriously?
One answer - maybe more people would hear about the love of Jesus Christ.
