Church visits

Visiting: As a student of religion, I've seen how various factors in a church visit affect spiritual growth and religious attitudes as one searches for a church home. I visit churches to observe, firsthand, how they present themselves to visitors. My visits, with a few exceptions, focus on Christian churches. This blog contains accounts of those visits, and related posts. I look for the following in my visits:
• Friendliness and warmth
• Genuine welcome, true Christian hospitality
• Effective, well-delivered bible-based main teaching
• Music deepening the worship, not just entertainment

Map to churches I have visited.
My email: churchvisits@gmail.com

Chris Thompson

Chris Thompson, an amateur biblical scholar and student of religions, is a member of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society for Biblical Literature (SBL). He enjoys AAR/SBL where he studies, first hand, with worldwide religious scholars. A management consultant, skilled in all aspects of 360-degree feedback programs and human resource management systems, he practices these skills as Workforce Consulting. He lives in Anchorage.

ON THE WEB

Google map with visited churches

As I visit churches, I'll post their locations on this map.

Don't Miss This Great Gospel Presentation!!! February 11, 2012, Last reminder!!! - 2/9/2012 8:15 pm

Five Myths About Youth/Young Adult Church Dropouts - 1/26/2012 11:04 pm

Eagle River Grace: Good Sermon and Prayers, But Not Guest Friendly - 1/24/2012 10:10 pm

Coming Feb. 11 - Steve Johnson’s “A Play for a Purpose: The Gospel According to John Mark” - 1/20/2012 4:22 pm

Why Are Anchorage Youth/Young Adults Deserting Church? Six Reasons - 1/13/2012 10:13 pm

Anchorage Moravian Church: Joyous & Sincere - 1/8/2012 11:33 pm

10 Things I’d Like Anchorage Churches to Tackle in 2012 - 1/1/2012 8:42 pm

Baxter Road Bible Church Ends “It’s Not Your Birthday” Giving Program Far Above Expectations! - 12/30/2011 11:33 am

Anchorage Bible Fellowship: Hiding Again on Elmore

I'm puzzled by Anchorage Bible Fellowship's huge sign on Elmore Road. Last fall I wrote in this blog post that their prominently situated sign carried a cute phrase but no worship times. I was thrilled to discover ABF had started posting the worship times on the sign about a week later and acknowledged it in this blog post. Lately I've noticed another phrase is once again gracing the sign and the worship times are missing. Maybe a reader knows why ABF took the worship times down. If so, post a comment here.

Signage with worship times clearly posted and readable by passing traffic is a critical factor in attracting visitors. It says the church is open for worship at this time. People remember critical worship time information long after the catchy phrase, so typical of these types of signs, is forgotten. In a future blog post I intend to give a brief history of this genre of sign and what a commercial success they've been.Anchorage Bible Fellowship Sign - February 4, 2010Anchorage Bible Fellowship Sign - February 4, 2010

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