Around a year ago, I went to a service with my daughter, because her friend was ringing bells and she wanted to watch.
First thing (I have encountered before at another church)...although I was a one time visitor, the Pastor did not know that...and, as he greeted people on their way in, he paid special attention to me...in a ‘used car salesman’ type of way. Its understandable - to him I’m a potential new parishioner, but its awkward.
Next, I had a hard time figuring out the music - there was more than one hymnal and everybody else instinctively knew how to switch back and forth - I was clueless as to how the system worked.
We did do the meet and greet thing, which I have always been uncomfortable with...growing up Catholic I’ve learned to deal with it, but not a fan.
The oddest thing, though - the Pastor had all the guests stand up. I dutifully stood up...but was not comfortable.
The entire time, we were there with another family (the family of the girl playing the bells). If we had been there without any ‘support’, I admit I would have been nervous the entire time. I think the main reason is that this is a very small church - and everybody knows each other. So I very much felt like an ‘outsider’.
The people were all very nice, and it was a good service. The bells exemplified a theme...my daughter’s friend is a teenager, but the rest of the bell crew was looked like retirees. This article is interesting to me though, because so many of the ‘complaints’ ring true to me, as a recent visitor to a church.
The oddest thing, though - the Pastor had all the guests stand up.
My parents keep finding churches like that. After the first song or right before the sermon, the Pastor wants all the guests to stand up, and then he sometimes does a mini interview (Where you from, visiting or local kind of stuff), right in the middle of the service!
If I were church hunting, I would never go again to a church that did that. As it is, my dad actually does most of the talking; he loves bragging on his kids and grandkids, so whatever. But they've found churches that do this in three different states, and a couple of different denominations, so I'm guessing it's pretty common.