one word

If you had to describe your church in one word, what would it be? Friendly, warm, relevant, fun, boring, exciting, celebrative, liturgical, worshipful, high-energy(I guess that's 2 words), ritualistic, welcoming, obsolete, sameness, dynamic, ingrown, accepting, family, safe, big, small, wonderful....

Now ask yourself this question. If a guest showed up for the first time, what word would he/she use to describe your church?

Every church is known in the community for something. When people mention the name of your church is it in a positive light? If not, how come?
I believe that it is our responsibility to honestly examine ourselves and if our overall one word assessment of our church is not positive---then we need to make some tough decisions and set out to change the perception.
Unfortunately this process is difficult so most churches won't deal with it. For instance if you were to ask some church Members to describe their church, they may say, "Friendly", but if you were to ask a first-time guest how they would describe it, they may say "unfriendly" because the reality is that the church is friendly to their members, but not friendly to "outsiders"

When we moved to this area we were invited to many churches. Some were good experiences, some were not. One particular church we were attending seemed to be a possible choice for us to join, but we had some apprehension because it seemed like we just didn't fit in. Now keep in mind we were actually trying to fit in. We didn't sit near the exit and bolt for the doors as soon as the service was over. We attended a couples Sunday School class, we engaged people in converstaion, and yet it just wasn't clicking.
The thing that finally convinced us that this church wasn't for us was when we attended a church-wide party at a local park. My wife went to try to connect with some other ladies, and I went to try to connect with some guys. Neither of us were successful. When we came back together we both commented that we were not accepted into their established cliques.
We decided to move on because the word that we came up for our experience at that church was "unfriendly." Maybe that's not a fair assessment, but it was our assessment.

One of the things that thrills me is when someone says, "I came to Foothills because I kept hearing what a great church it is, and now that I've visited, I see why they said that!"

So what is the word for your church?