That quote is attributed to Woody Allen. The older I get the more true I find it. I'd slightly modify it for church work: "80% of ministry is just being there." For me the key thing to a reasonably successful ministry so far has been just "being there" for people: answering the phone when they call; returning phone calls; returning e-mails, calling to check up on people who haven't been around in a while; visiting the sick. That stuff, and remembering peoples' names is helpful too, goes a long way.
But recently I have expanded this idea of "being there". St. Francis church is now open for prayer and mediation Monday - Thursday 8:00 - 2:00 (while I am here for my office hours). The daily services are done in addition to this. I started this because I noticed a problem: we do not get many visitors for Sunday services, yet we have probably a couple hundred cars and people driving and walking by the church each day. Why don't they visit on Sunday? While there are different many answers to that question, one of the things I thought was that people want to slowly get their feet wet in religion. The pressure of a really intimidating church service is not always what they want right away. But they can learn to like it if they slowly "wade in"; if they would just come inside just to see the place and feel God's presence, they might come back for a service. So now the doors are unlocked and the light in the sanctuary is on to give the place a sacred glow. Soon I will start playing some choral music in the background to help give the place a greater sense of holiness. As for the outside, at the beginning of the month we put some very colorful mums on the front steps which makes the place look more inviting, and which many people have commented on. In short, I want everyone in town to come in here to pray and refresh their souls. That is one thing I have always loved about European churches, and some of the big churches here in the states - how they are always open.
So, slowly, it has been working - at least to get people physically into the church. Several folk have stopped in to pray and just check the place out. Not tons of people, but I am very thankful for the few we have been starting to get. Now if we can get them to come on a Sunday or to one of the weekday services, and then to keep coming back we'll be doing great. I realize that not every parish can do this. We are a city parish at a big intersection one block from a huge university, and there is lots of foot traffic, so it appears to be working for us. But "being there" for people is what counts. We can't touch people with the reconciling love of Christ if we are not there for them.
