Churchrater
I recently got an update from the people at Churchrater and decided to revisit their site and see how it was. This is the site from the book Jim and Casper Go To Church. I posted something about it a while back and m y general feeling was that it was a good idea that also tends to be somewhat consumeristic.
After three years the site is still up and running and there are some recent (9/18/2009) rates of churches there, but it seems that there isn’t much traction happening. I read a couple of the rates and was surprised that most that I read were very positive. I was expecting there to be a somewhat negative trend in the rating.
Guy Kawasaki had an interesting thought about it here. It really sums up what I love and hate about the site.
“In a sense, a church is a “business” that depends on word-of-mouth marketing like any other. Now consumers have a way to check out a church just like they check out restaurants.”
If the church is a business and it has consumers, I think Churchrater is a great idea. I don’t see the church as a business though and if it did have consumers, I wonder what the product would be. Would it be religion? peace? the you that you have always wanted to be but always get in the way of being?
I just can’t get away from the idea that there is something about church that is just beyond our liking. The church I attend and work at is an example of one the churches that I would rate poorly in many ways. We really don’t try to set new standards visuals, liturgy, or many other things people go to find in a new church. It isn’t we don’t consider it important, it’s just that priorities get in the way.
Having said that, I think there could be some benefit and even need for Churchrater. I have certainly been in churches that could use a dose of new eyes on how they come across. I constantly here that from our visitors and it is always helpful in opening up a dialogue.
The thing that really bugs me though is that often we never hear from someone who visits about how their experience was. I think that is fairly typical of most churches. So, hopefully, Churchrater will open dialogue and help churches in seeing how they are seen by their visitors. Check if you church is rated here.
