One day this week I was entering the local library to drop off some recorded books I’d carried to Indianapolis. At the same time, a young mother was coming in from the parking lot, fanning herself with the palm of her hand. I commented, rather inanely, “So, do you think it’s hot?”

She didn’t smile. “Rather,” is all she said.

Five minutes later, we happened to be exiting at the same time. I said, “Well, we can be thankful for A/C.” She said humorlessly, “I don’t have air-conditioning.”

I said, “Excuse me. I’m sorry.”

My assumption was that she was doing the same thing I was, rushing from an air-conditioned office to an air-conditioned car, and from there to an air-conditioned library, back again, and later into an air-conditioned home. That in this modern age when every building and vehicle seems to be cooled, she was without such a taken-for-granted blessing never occurred to me.

A little reflection shows the error of my assumption. On these blisteringly hot evenings when residents of some neighborhoods are sitting outside, visiting with each other, I have been known to glance in their direction and wistfully comment, “How nice. They’re spending time together.” That they’re outside because the inside of their houses is smothering never occurred to me.

Assumptions. They can be embarrassing, as in the case above. Or, they can be deadly.

Craig Ratliff pastors the St. Bernard campus of Celebration Church, built on the location of the former site of First Baptist Church of Arabi, whose buildings were ruined by Katrina and later demolished. At our Wednesday pastors’ meeting, Craig shared some aspects of his growing ministry.

They’re reaching a lot of unchurched people with little or no religious background. “Our assumption that almost all the people down there are Catholics is wrong,” he said. He explained, “They might have been baptized as babies and probably went through confirmation at some point, and if you asked, they would tell you they’re Catholic, but that’s as far as it goes with most. They don’t have a clue about the Bible or the Gospel or anything about the Christian faith.”

“One fellow asked me, ‘What is this you want to do to me?’ He was talking about baptism, and didn’t have the foggiest idea what it was about or what it represented.”

“My wife is leading a women’s Bible study and they’re studying Ruth and Naomi from the Old Testament at the moment. The other day, a professional woman who started coming to the class asked Cindy, ‘Who is this Ruth? I’ve never heard of Naomi.'”

“If we take for granted that the people sitting before us know their Bibles and have a basic understanding of the Gospel, we will miss them entirely.”

“We can’t assume anything.”

I sat there thinking of other assumptions I see in churches and hear from pulpits all the time. A minister will announce, “Turn to hymn 93,” without explaining that it’s found in the red book in the pew racks.

The worship leader will say, “Sing with me ‘Amazing Grace.’ You all know the words.” They don’t.

The pastor announces, “My text is Jeremiah 2:13. In this verse, the prophet says….” Meanwhile, the unchurched couple is flipping through their Bible–if they have one–trying to find Jeremiah, wondering how one would go about spelling that name, and perplexed as to what in the sam hill ‘two-thirteen’ refers to.

In the announcements, we hear, “The ice cream fellowship will be held at Tom and Sandy’s tonight after the evening service. You’re all invited.” With no clue who Tom and Sandy are, the unchurched couple decide they’ve just been given the cold-shoulder and are not welcome at tonight’s social.

So easily does a church desert Unchurched Bob and Clueless Helen. They came in from the cold looking for warmth, from the dark expecting light, from their lostness to find the way. What they found was a closed society where all the church members understand the language without effort, know the players without a program, and give no thought to the first-timer who could use a friendly welcome and a welcoming friend.

Our association recently voted to set up some teams that will “mystery-shop” the churches inviting them. They’ll be looking for ways the church can improve its attractiveness, its accessibility, and its overall ministry to the visitor who walks in the front door. The fun thing about this–from my standpoint at any rate–is that this idea arose from the churches and pastors themselves.

I cannot tell you the times I have visited a church as their director of missions, either to preach or just to get acquainted, and saw glaring evidences of neglect or false assumptions and wanted so much to write a report to the pastor and congregational leadership on matters that need to be corrected if they are to be effective in reaching people for the Lord. Now, hopefully, we can take a giant stride in that direction.

Craig Ratliff said, “We’re working on our worship services, trying to tweak them, trying to go for excellence.”

What exactly does this mean, we wondered.

“We’re trying to be sharper about the lag time between two people on the program. When it’s my turn, I walk up during the final verse and am in place at the last note. We want our building to be pristine and our greeters to be sharp. I rehearse everything I do, even the announcements.”

I knew the answer to this question, so I asked, “Craig, tell us what time you get to the church on Sunday mornings.”

“It actually starts on Saturday evening. I go down to the church and make sure everything is ready for Sunday, then I stand at the pulpit and preach my sermon. In fact, I go over everything I’ll be doing in the service, trying to find the best way to say it, to make it sharp.”

“Then, I wake up at 4 o’clock on Sunday morning and I’m at the church by five. I’ll preach the sermon and rehearse everything else I do two or three times.”

And why do you do all of this, Craig?

“To be as effective as possible in presenting the Lord’s message. I don’t want to take anything for granted. We really do want to reach people for Christ.”

I assumed that.