This month in Illinois, Concordia University sophomore Stan Lemon is going shopping. But local retailers aren't the ones competing for his business.

That's because he - like thousands of other Americans from coast to coast - is in the market for a church, a new place to call spiritual home.

And churches, once cold to any semblance of competition, are more and more warming to the shopping season that arrives ritually along with the crisper air, the moving vans, and the end of vacations.

For many churchgoers, the choice of where to attend rests not just on denominational labels but on factors such as the warmth of handshakes and the quality of the choir. And many, including Mr. Lemon, are shopping for the theological substance of sound doctrine.

"They look to see who's making sense, who's exploring the mysteries of God, who's offering serious advice," says the Rev. Joseph Neiman, rector of St. Mark's Church, an Episcopal congregation in Paw Paw, Mich. "If we can help you, fine. If not, look elsewhere. But keep looking, because this is all too important to neglect."

Church-shopping occurs year-round. But fall is not only when Sunday schools resume and mission teams get back to work, but also when newcomers are especially prone to test out the rear pews, rate the preacher's delivery, and sample the doughnuts and conversation afterward.

And churches are increasingly responding, touting what makes them special - and might give them an edge:

• The First Presbyterian Church of Corvallis, Ore., has a button on its website for church shoppers, and this month is erecting a billboard in the center of downtown to proclaim its values.

• In Canton, Mass., the First Parish Unitarian Universalist uses its website to invite "church-shoppers and other seekers who would not, could not, tolerate homophobia, racism, classism or other such hates - or even prejudices - in their spiritual home."

• St. Mark's in Paw Paw is buying newspaper ads to promote its video library, children's programs, and prayer workshops for newcomers to the greater Kalamazoo area.

• Dozens of churches between the coasts are reviving the use of "greeters," friendly members who wear name tags and strive to make newcomers feel at home, says George Hunter, an expert on church growth at Asbury Theological Seminary.

The Rev. Scott Jones, a United Methodist Bishop of Kansas and a former professor of evangelism at Southern Methodist University, says churches that celebrate comparative shopping do so in response to "the increasing secularization of American culture ... [where] church leaders want to encourage people to find any congregation to worship in."

Yet when churches bless comparative shopping, Mr. Scott says, they open the door to its hazards as well as benefits.

"[It puts] pastors, who would otherwise support each other, into a competitive posture," he says. "But the bottom line is that in American Christianity, the people get to choose... In that competition, there's a kind of asking approach so the church becomes whatever the people want it to be. But this is also what has given the American church vitality, while the European churches are dying."

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