Churches reach out to infrequent attendees
By MARKETTA GREGORY (Staff writer)
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Sunday, April 16, 2006

Almost every church wrestles with the challenge of getting all those people who show up on Easter to return for services in following weeks. This year, the Rev. Doug Della Pietra is taking matters into his own hands.

He has rented a Henrietta movie theater for Monday night and is inviting people who don't regularly attend church to come and tell him what stands in their way.

Della Pietra, pastor at Church of the Good Shepherd in Henrietta, promises no preaching and no arguing — just listening.

Of course, this isn't the first time that churches have tried to reach out to what is commonly called the unchurched population. The local Roman Catholic diocese has sponsored a series of talks, called Theology on Tap, that met at bars in hopes of reaching young adults. And entire denominations — including the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ — have spent millions of dollars on advertising in hopes of drawing people in and getting them involved on a more regular basis.

The few times the Upper Room Family Worship Center on Joseph Avenue took its worship service outdoors, it saw attendance jump, said Shaunta Collier-Santos.

"It's hard to walk by or drive by and hear singing and preaching and not stop," she said, adding that church members also try to go door to door in the neighborhood to invite people.

Henrietta United Church of Christ has grown by 30 percent in the last two years, thanks to a its denomination's advertising, a new Web site and a "spirit of vitality and warmth and openness," said the Rev. David Inglis. Still, it sees a spike at Easter and a drastic decline afterward. Last year, attendance rose to 202 at Easter and fell to 111 the next week.

"People need to feel some connection to God and to a community of faith," Inglis said. "And they want to keep that connection, no matter how tenuous it is."

That link is now tenuous for about one-third of the adult population, according to survey results released last month by the California-based Barna Group. About 76 million adults have not attended a church service or activity, other than a special occasion such as a funeral or a wedding, in the past six months.

Even the term "regular attenders" will change in the future, said Patricia Schoelles, president of St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Pittsford. Instead of referring to people who attend almost every week, it will mean people who attend occasionally.

Many do come back for Easter and Christmas for reasons including tradition, guilt and a need to feel good, said A. Larry Ross, whose Dallas-based company handles public relations and marketing for people such as the Rev. Billy Graham and Pastor Rick Warren, author of the bestseller The Purpose-Driven Life.

The media also factors in, said Ross. There are magazine cover stories this time of year and TV specials on the Ten Commandments. This year, he even saw an advertisement for a clothing store that encouraged people to come in and buy their Easter clothes. It showed a family attending church.

Still, Ross said it all gets back to "a God-shaped void" and what Graham calls an unprecedented search for purpose and meaning.

Eddie Blanding can work with that.

"Even if they only come on Christmas or Easter, that's a great opportunity," said Blanding, a minister at New Life Fellowship Church on Wellington Avenue in southwest Rochester. "A lot of people give their lives to Christ those times of year. ... I hope they get a sense of the kind of love that will make them want to come back any time."

Already, Della Pietra has spoken to his congregation of close to 1,200 about ways that they can be hospitable today, when their numbers will likely swell to 2,500.

"We need to be welcoming without judgment and without limits," he said.

Maybe people don't think religion is relevant to their lives. Maybe they disagree with church doctrine. Maybe they have been hurt in the past.

Whatever the reasons, Della Pietra wants to hear what people have to say on Monday and then he hopes to use that information to make changes at his church and maybe even in the larger Christian church.

"I know there's a risk for people to come," said Della Pietra, who paid $500 of his own money to rent the 100-seat theater at Regal Henrietta. "The church has promised to listen in the past" and failed, he said, but he will be the only staff member from his parish at the theater Monday night.

And he will make sure that the conversation doesn't become destructive.

Even if one or two people show up, that will be OK with Della Pietra and Catherine Frangenberg, a longtime member who is coming to take notes so that the priest can listen intently.

"If two or 200 come, he will still listen," said Frangenberg, of Henrietta.

To Della Pietra, it's important that he has at least issued the invitation.

"Easter proclaims the message that hurt, pain and death don't have to have the final say. Newness of life and healing are possible."

This article first appeared in the April 16, 2006 issue of
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
(Rochester, NY 14614)