Mark Katrick faith column: We comparison shop for gas, but what about for a church?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away … “(there were) Gas Wars!”

With apologies to “Star Wars” and the creator/producer of this franchise, George Lucas, there really was such a thing. It happened right here in this galaxy and was not so far away back in time as you’d think.

And I was a witness. On Saturday mornings, my father with his toolbox and I in my cowboy hat went to Grandpa’s house to repair something or the other. On the way, we’d stop to gas up the Buick Electra at the Sinclair Station for 27 cents a gallon — unless the Sohio Station across the street had it for 26 cents a gallon or Esso on the corner for 25 cents a gallon.

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Sinclair was my personal favorite. They had a big, green dinosaur on their sign, with toy replicas for sale. Dad, a hardworking steelworker, had other priorities, like saving every penny he could.

As a semiretired, part-time pastor and spiritual director, I’m living the sequel to Gas Wars. On my sojourns to Zanesville and places in between, I can do a little comparison shopping before putting a “Tiger in the Tank” of my Toyota Corolla. I may very well have set a record for consecutive months at less than $3 per gallon.

Surveys indicate there are not as many people shopping for churches these days. Polling indicates there are fewer and fewer churched people out there and more and more unchurched.

I once served a congregation that had another across the street and still another on the corner. The pastor of one of these was a fine fellow with a competitive spirit. His inquiring mind was always wanting to know if anyone had joined our flock. It makes me wonder how often people are still comparison shopping for churches to join. What is their criteria?

How many miles per gallon of spiritual energy you get from the sermons? How many Sunday school classes are offered in the care and maintenance of your vehicle? How many opportunities there are for mission and outreach to take your faith on a test drive? And are these warm and welcoming places, rest areas where you park yourselves when your spirits are tired and weary and your tanks almost empty?

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All of these factors have some degree of significance in growing a congregation. Most importantly is, “Does God dwell in this place you are visiting?” My grandfather would have answered this question with a resounding, “YES!” His house was just a block away from his church home. He walked there nearly every day for Mass, no matter the season or the weather outside.

A kid of any age doesn’t need a big green dinosaur on the sign to want to get up out of bed on Sundays and go to church. All he or she needs to know is that if this is a place where people “love one another as God loves them” (John 13:34). As the title to a hymn by the Rev. Peter Scholtes says, “You’ll know they are Christians, by their love, by their love.”

Mark Katrick is a pastor and spiritual guide.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mark Katrick faith column: Comparison-shopping for gas... and a church