Most first-time visitors to churches dislike being...

Most first-time visitors to churches dislike being asked to wear name tags or stand up and identify themselves during the service, according to pollster George Barna of Glendale.

And two of every three visitors say they don’t like it when the pastor or another church representative visits them at home in the week after their church appearance, Barna says.

Conversely, 80% say they like it when they are treated no differently than anyone else at a church they’re visiting, Barna writes in his newly published “Evangelism That Works,” published by Regal Books in Ventura.

About 78% appreciate being greeted individually after the service by people, and 70% say they like collecting information about the church and receiving a thank-you note from the pastor after their visit.

Visitors unaligned with any church “want positive experiences, but on their own terms,” Barna wrote. They wish to remain anonymous. “Non-churched people, like most Americans, wish to retain control of their experiences and circumstances.

“Enabling them to visit under the comfort and security of anonymity, and then to experience a genuine rather than a staged or forced outpouring of acceptance from the people is likely to impress them greatly,” Barna said.

In fact, nearly half of all adults say they become annoyed when someone tries to share religious beliefs with them, Barna said.

And even many churchgoers who attempt to evangelize others are uncomfortable with the exchange, Barna found.

Three of every 10 people trying to interest someone else in their faith “are usually worried that the person they are evangelizing will be upset or offended by the nature of the discussion,” Barna said.

And one out of every seven “feels uncomfortable speaking with other people about spiritual matters,” unless that person is a family member, close friend or trusted associate, he said.

Barna picked 33 Protestant churches nationwide--including nine in Southern California--with an “unusually strong evangelistic impact” to aid research for his book.

The Southern California churches are:

Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village; Crystal Cathedral Hispanic Ministry in Garden Grove; Evergreen Baptist Church in Rosemead; Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego; Lake Avenue Congregational Hispanic Congregation in Pasadena; Mandarin Baptist Church of Los Angeles in Alhambra; Rolling Hills Covenant Church in Rolling Hills Estates; West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, and New Venture Christian Fellowship in Oceanside, where Banda is a part-time minister.

PEOPLE

* Renowned gospel singer James Blackwood, the only living member of the original Blackwood Brothers Quartet, will be a guest performer at a gospel concert in Covina at the Assembly of God Church, 250 E. San Bernardino Road. The 6:30 p.m. concert will include six other gospel groups. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for seniors and $5 for children.

* Saundra Bryant, executive director for 10 years of the All Peoples Christian Center in Los Angeles, has been nominated as first vice moderator for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) General Assembly. Bryant, a licensed social worker, is expected to be elected to the two-year post at the Oct. 20-24 convention in Pittsburgh.

* The Rev. Charles Elswick, who was pastor of First Christian Church of Santa Monica for 17 years, started in July as senior minister of Wilshire Christian Church, a showcase church of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on Los Angeles’ Wilshire Boulevard.

* Kehillat Ma’arav, the Westside Congregation, in Santa Monica this month welcomed its new spiritual leader, Rabbi Michael Gotlieb. Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, Gotlieb was rabbi of Temple Judea in Oceanside for the last five years.

SPIRITUAL CEREMONIES

* The Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, founders of the Unification Church, will hold a worldwide wedding ceremony for about 350,000 couples--50,000 in Seoul and 300,000 via satellite transmissions in 50 nations. Called “Blessing ‘95,” the ceremony will include couples from every major faith, including Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains and Orthodox Christians, and will be held Friday in Seoul (Thursday evening PDT). It is intended to promote love and world peace.

* The Los Angeles branch of the Forshang Sect will host a spiritual meeting with Master Sun-Don Lee at the Forshang Sect World Center, 670 Monterey Pass Road, Room 250, Monterey Park, today from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. For information, (818) 458-8637.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES

* Southern Baptists will open the Los Angeles School of Theology next Saturday in La Puente for pastors and other church leaders. The advisory council administering the school will be headed by Pastor Paul Lacanilao of the host Cornerstone International Christian Church, 1130 California Ave., La Puente. The school, created to meet “the demand for trained and equipped ethnic leaders” in the region, will have links to Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Lacanilao said. The number is (818) 918-1941.

* The Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese’s Archival Center at the San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills has received a large collection of manuscripts, books and other materials as a gift from Peter T. Conmy, 94, a longtime researcher of Catholic Church history in Northern California and the former librarian and historian for the city of Oakland. Once Conmy’s 120 boxes and 42 file drawers of material have been catalogued, the collection will be available to researchers, said Msgr. Francis J. Weber, archivist for the archdiocese.

* An extensive collection of writings and documents on Pentecostalism, one of the most dynamic movements in 20th-Century Christianity, is now open to researchers in the MacAlister Library at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, said Russell P. Spittler, director of the David du Plessis Center for Christian Spirituality. Using a federal grant of $51,695 from the National Archives, the center staff has sorted and catalogued documents from the personal libraries of several Pentecostal leaders, including Du Plessis, who was instrumental in Catholic-Pentecostal dialogues.

* An introduction to Reconstructionist Judaism will take place at University Synagogue in Irvine on Wednesday at 7:30. The synagogue is at 4915 Alton Parkway. Information and directions are available by calling (714) 553-3535.

* Rabbi Denise L. Eger will conduct a Talmud study session at noon Thursday, at the law offices of Bill Weingerger, 12401 Wilshire Blvd. The session is sponsored by Congregation Kol Ami, which welcomes gays, lesbians and bisexual men and women. Lunch is $6.50.

FINALLY

* The charismatic renewal movement--an outgrowth of Pentecostalism that is often indistinguishable from its parent--counts among its numbers many fast-growing churches, including independent congregations as well as those affiliated with old and new denominations.

In its August issue, Charisma, a monthly magazine published in Lake Mary, Fla., printed sketches of 20 noteworthy congregations, four of them in Southern California. The four are:

* Harvest Rock Fellowship, Pasadena (Pastor Che Ahn, 40 members in first year).

* St. Stephen’s Church of God in Christ, San Diego (Bishop George McKinney, 2,000 members).

* Iglesia Evangelica, Los Angeles (Pastor Mose Sandoval, 100 members).

* Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Anaheim (founder John Wimber, mother church of the Assn. of Vineyard Churches).

The only other California church listed by Charisma was the multiethnic, 7,000-member Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, pastored by the Rev. Dick Bernal.