Group publishing did a study recently to try and determine the friendliest venues around town. Their research was interesting.

As it turns out,  churches didn’t fare poorly in this survey of 800 respondents, three-fourths of whom identified themselves as Christians. Yes, more people think restaurants, bars, and pubs beat churches as the best places to meet people, but not by that much: 18 percent versus 16 percent. The hidden assumption here is this: the church should be as friendly as a bar.

So the church did okay, but I could’t help but think, are we measuring the right thing? Should the church be as friendly as a bar? After all, what does a bar offer besides friendliness (drinks obviously)? Doesn’t the church offer people a lot more … and something so much more important?

Certainly, churches should welcome people with open arms, free of judgmentalism and disposed towards grace. But a bar seems like to low of a standard to be compared to.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Just click on the word “comments” and fill in the boxes to leave a comment. There are no right or wrong answers on this one, just ideas and opinions. I would love to hear from you.