Comments on: Cartoon lab: Going back to church

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:02:17 +0000

A very big thank you for all of these. The cartoon has been done and sent and contains significant numbers of the ideas here. You’ve given me one or two ideas that can be used elsewhere too, so thank you.

By: Phil H

Phil H — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:53:48 +0000

Some real ones from someone that goes a little infrequently:

1. The songs have changed. Moreover, there are songs with names just like the one you know, but turn out to be a new one from Hillsong et ilk.
2. You always turn up on Giving Sunday, PCC Vision Announcement Sunday, or The Church Has Gone Off On A Weekend Sunday.
3. People ask if you’re new, even though you’ve been ‘going’ for years.
4. You ask about home groups and are informed that they’ve stopped for the summer, or are about to, or about to be reshuffled, So Please Ask Again In A Few Weeks.
5. The welcomers give you really warm but nearly vacant smiles – they’re waiting for the baptism party but you don’t look dressed for it.
6. Going back to a recently-previous church, 5 people come to chat very warmly, promising to meet up, email, invite you to things that don’t transpire.
7. The vicar asks, with more than mild curiousity, why you decided to leave.
8. People assume you’ve been going somewhere else, even though all you’ve been doing is staying at home.

By: Liz Goddard

Liz Goddard — Thu, 31 May 2012 23:28:09 +0000

I would love to see Alison`s suggestions (17) set to
music!

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 31 May 2012 22:13:31 +0000

We asked where we should sit. “Anywhere you like!” So we sat at the back.

Someone came and said,”This row is for the wardens.” We moved to another seat.

Someone came and said, “This pew has a crack along it and won’t be comfortable for long.”

We felt like going home, but we stayed. We were long-time attenders at other churches, but we wondered if someone trying out church for the first time would have had the stamina to stay after that welcome!

By: Mark Hangartner

Mark Hangartner — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:15:08 +0000

wearing a disguise so no one recognises you

By: Kit

Kit — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:29:00 +0000

Many people make up excuses about why they have not been t
church. I ran into a friend from church who had’t been there for
about a year and the first thing she did was give me a long list of
reasons she had not been in church. Every thing from getting a new
dog to her kids playing ball on sundays to complaining about the
traffic. She talked for ten minutes before I could say that I was
happy to see her.

By: Pidge

Pidge — Thu, 31 May 2012 18:08:45 +0000

I returned to a fundamentalist church for a visit more than two years after I’d last been there and discovered that they were still doing the series on Romans and were only half way through the book

By: Katharine

Katharine — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:17:01 +0000

going back to church always reminds me of when someone I know went back to the church that they were organist at for many years, only to be asked by one of the clergy team (who had employed him and interviewed him!), was he new and was this his first time at the church?

By: Liz from the sewing room

Liz from the sewing room — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:43:43 +0000

My husband rarely goes to church now, but used to go regularly. He came to something, and a lady walked up to him and was pleasant and friendly and asked him all about his recent heart surgery and saying how well he looked. Husband smiled and made the appropriate replies, not wishing to suggest that perhaps the lady thought he was someone else entirely since he hadnt had heart surgery and wasnt called John.

By: Peter D

Peter D — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:23:22 +0000

Variation on Ann’s suggestion:

Arrive early, walk in boldly, and sit at the back.

Arrive late, try to sneak in, but have to walk up the aisle to sit at the front.

and

Expect to enjoy the coffee afterwards…