Can you find St. Andrew’s?

Dear Friends,

For the last week or so, I’ve been chewing on something that a friend and church member mentioned off-handedly last week. He said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if it hadn’t been for our friends, we never would have found St. Andrew’s. Like ever.”

His point was that we have a challenge: for many people looking for a church, St. Andrew's will never register as an option. We won’t be considered and rejected, just never noticed. Obviously this isn’t universally true, but for lots of people looking for a church, we don’t fit the model of what 21st century church looks like; we don’t present to the world the same way. And since we don’t fit what people think they are looking for, they never notice St. Andrew's.

I’m still mulling over this idea that we don't show up on people's radar. I’ve decided that on the plus side, that makes us like a B-21 stealth bomber — not easy to detect, but also totally awesome. On the downside, stealth bombers are not Biblical metaphors for the church.

There’s not an easy fix here. Our website is pretty good, we’re totally Google-able, our campus is attractive, our signage is good. We have (and will again) run ads. We are, especially for our church outside, very active in our community. It's a matter of how we fit (or don't) in the larger culture.

I share this with you, however, because I want you to notice the solution that is contained within his observation: "if it hadn’t been for our friends.”

This season, especially, is a great time to share the gift of St. Andrew’s with your friends. Invite them to the Live Nativity. Share our Facebook event or Instagram post so that your network of people sees it. Ask them to come with you to Christmas Eve. Maybe instead of frankincense, gold, and myrrh, to Christ you can bring Frank, Gilda, and their daughter Myra!

In Christ,
Fr. Andrew