I have an experience about what people are interested in and about discovering people’s questions!

I got to the church building early one morning to make some final preparations for a funeral service which would be held there later that day. As I walked to the other side of the building to unlock the outer door, I noticed a florist had just pulled up and he was getting a flower arrangement out of the van. I opened the door to greet him and invited him inside to set-up the flowers in the appropriate place.

When he finished, he said to me, “You know, I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 30 years. This is my favorite church in the area, but do you know, I’ve never been inside? I’ve always wanted to see if the inside was a beautiful as the outside but I’ve never had the chance.”

I asked if he had time for a tour. He did, and we spent the next 20 minutes walking from the chapel, where I explained how Latter-day Saints worship on Sundays, to some classrooms, past the clerk’s office, where I shared why we tithe, and ended up at the baptismal font where I testified about that saving ordinance. I asked about his own faith and his own beliefs in the Savior. That’s something I probably wouldn’t have thought to do before reading the chapter, “Creating Conversations about the Gospel.” By finding out what he was interested in (that he wanted to learn about what we do in our church buildings) and discovering his questions (by asking about his own beliefs and what his unanswered, spiritual questions are), we had a great conversation. I told him what time our church services are on Sunday and that he and his family are always welcome to join us.

While I haven’t seen him at church (yet), the experience taught me three things…

1. People want to come inside our church buildings and learn what we do there. I’m so excited for the program of having open buildings as announced in the Hastening the Work broadcast.
2. An invitation to church doesn’t only mean to Sacrament Meeting on Sundays. We can invite friends to take personal tours of our churches whenever it’s convenient. We can invite the missionaries to meet us there to help answer questions, and we can take an active role in leading a tour. I found out we don’t need scripts or detailed tour plans. We can tell our friends what we already know, and the Spirit of our buildings will make up the difference.
3. Teaching others about the church is easier and more effective when we focus on what they want to know instead of what we want to tell them.

I was humbled to see the Lord’s hand in this experience. I thought I was just there to set up chairs and vacuum the foyer! Little did I know that a florist would show up and finally get to see inside his favorite neighborhood church building after 30 years of looking from a distance.

-Anon.