What’s Their Point A?
If we’re going to serve our church’s guests well, we have to know their “Point A.”
I define Point A as the emotional, mental, and spiritual space a guest is living in when they first walk into the doors of a church. Perhaps they’re a seasoned believer in a new town, and looking for a church. Maybe they’re a skeptical non-believer in the middle of a crisis, and looking for something – anything – to give them hope.
Here’s the thing about people’s “Point A”:
1. The Point A can’t be assumed.
We can’t measure someone’s emotional, mental, or spiritual state based on a glance. We can’t assign a Point A based on their demographic. It takes actual conversation, good questions, and helpful prompts to know where they are.
2. Point A is different from a starting line.
I believe that – with very few exceptions – a person’s introduction to your church should have the same starting line. Whether that’s a first-time guest experience or a newcomers class, we don’t do our guests any good if we keep moving the goalposts. Point A simply assesses what additional help the guest may need in getting to the starting line.
3. The Point A takes the work of the Spirit.
If we are depending on “actual conversation, good questions, and helpful prompts,” then we must invite the Holy Spirit into our work each weekend. We need to acknowledge our full dependence on Him to see people (I mean literally see them, noticing when they arrive), and then figuratively see them, graciously and gently getting into their space to help determine where they are.
4. What comes after Point A can be scalable.
Just like with a physical map, everybody has to start somewhere. And if your church has clearly defined values and next steps, you’ll be able to fairly easily nudge people to a newcomers event, a small group, a serving opportunity, a counseling relationship, a whatever. While not every situation has a clearly-defined, already-invented next step, many of them will.
This weekend, let’s do the hard work of meeting people at their Point A, and help them get started on their journey.
