By Deacon Peggy Hahn (she/her), Co-Director at LEAD

Two young people greeted me at the front desk when I walked into my gym last night, so I asked them, “Where do I go for the new Balance Class? What do people do there?”

They smiled at each other and said, almost in unison, “Hmmm, I have no idea.” After a 5-minute computer search, reading the same description I had found on my app yesterday, they concluded it was a bike class, and I could go to the “energy” room. The people in that room, a big, dark room filled with stationary bikes and a huge video screen, were well into a workout. Based on my app, the Balance Class would not start for another 15 minutes. This was definitely the wrong room.

Then, I asked someone else, wearing a name tag, “Where is the new Balance Class? Do you know what that is?” They had no clue.

By the time I had asked my fourth person, my anxiety had grown to a “I just want to go home and lay on the sofa” level of working out.

As a last-ditch effort, I asked someone with “manager” on their name tag, with my frustration showing… “Why is this so hard? Why does no one here know what’s going on here?” Her answer?

“Oh – everyone has a terrible first time here. After that people figure it out.”

I didn’t have the guts to tell her I had been coming to this gym for two years. Is it just me or is there a secret code for navigating the workout world no one has ever taught me?

Immediately, my mind went to the first yoga class I had taken twenty years ago – where my down dog, lunge, and tree-pose were always a few beats behind. Yep. I figured it out.

But does it have to be so hard?

Why do the people who appear to be in leadership have no idea how to truly welcome first-timers? Why should anyone bother trying? We all feel insecure enough just walking in the gym. 

Is this how other people feel when they come to church for the first time? My gosh, please say no – please say we greet them, tell them what’s going on, and accompany them through the ups, downs, bathroom hunts, coffee hour, and more. Or is this like the gym – we assume they will figure it out. 

Barna’s research is pointing to people searching for a place to belong. Just a thought here: 

Will they feel like they can fit in at your church? Will they find friends, empathy, vulnerability, and Jesus? Please say yes, and point the way.