Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 24, 1990 TAG: 9003242293
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was the first stop on a path that has brought me as a sojourner to nearly 90 Western Virginia churches. All but a few have been in the Roanoke Valley.
The time has come to take a break from that assignment on this page and to make some assessments of the experience.
As a sojourner I have always gone each month unannounced, as would a stranger seeking spiritual refreshment. Generally - though not always - I have tried to select dates for ordinary weekly worship, although some special programs did turn up.
The goal of Sojourner has always been to educate, not promote the church visited. Nor has the report of my visit been a review including pros and cons of the experience. I tried to tell readers what I saw and heard with a minimum of opinion.
Nevertheless, many church people apparently have seen it as promotion for their congregation. Response has generally been positive. My goal was to show seekers a place where they might fit in.
Some clergy, I've heard, are fearful that I'll catch them on "a bad Sunday." But any regular churchgoer knows such Sundays are part of life. My goal has been to show churches "warts and all."
What are the warts?
One clearly is a lack of awareness of strangers. This is apparent in the congregation before and after worship. Generally the pastor and occasionally his or her spouse are on the lookout for unfamiliar faces, but often members are so busy greeting each other that a stranger gets no notice.
Training obviously is needed for this. The churches where growth is a concern have laity who look out for newcomers.
Another problem that too few churches are correcting is lack of directional signs. A rest room, the interior door to the sanctuary, and coat racks are rarely found easily.
Ramps and rest rooms for the handicapped are far more numerous than a generation ago, but they're still lacking in older buildings.
At the other extreme in welcoming are the ways strangers are recognized. In some churches, there's a hall registration book in which visitors sign. Unaware of what will happen, the sojourner later may be asked to rise for exposure to the whole church. Maybe a colored ribbon would be better to designate visitors who might be embarrassed by that.
Sojourner has shown me that readers have tremendous curiosity about churches different from their own, to find out what newer, unfamiliar denominations practice without opening themselves to pressure to become members.
Many are surprised at how many congregations exist in the Roanoke Valley; an estimate of 500 for the metro area is conservative.
Baptists are the most numerous with more than 70 congregations affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention alone. There are numerous other congregations with that label that area affiliated with other national Baptist groups or none at all.
Curiosity especially exists about non-traditional churches organized during the past 30 years. I found the worship experience at these less different from the mainstream Protestant bodies than many suppose.
Too, I like music that is well performed and obviously enjoyed by the singers. Too many churches let their choir have all the fun with it.
Many pastors who feel obliged to preach sermons for children should delegate the job to a lay person.
The age of worshipers varies with the location of their church, but it's clear that people over 40 generally are in the majority in the valley's pews.
Suburban congregations have more young people.
Racial integration is growing slowly but almost entirely in fellowships associated with the Pentecostal or charismatic churches that have been established or relocated in the suburbs.
Jehovah's Witnesses are an exception; their teaching-style services usually contain a true mixture of races. Catholic parishes show a sprinkling of natives of the Far East, mostly Vietnamese resettled as refugees over the past 15 years.
by CNB