SuttaCentral
It’s just a convenient English term used to describe their role in the temple. The Buddha never conceived of a Buddhist religion either, since religion in the Western sense of the term would have been an alien concept.
In Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, the priest leads the services, but he or she doesn’t claim to have any special knowledge or attainments that the laity doesn’t have. In the words of Shinran, the historical founder of Jodo Shinshu, “I don’t have a single disciple.”
I’d personally be more interested in visiting a temple with traditional services than a Western Theravada meditation group.
Some of the things done in these environments are as much cultural as traditional in an EBT sense. Meditation is certainly traditional 
I believe both are beneficial
I really like traditional Buddhist chanting.
Surely taking refuges and precepts and providing requisites and other assistance to monastics is fairly traditional in an EBT sense?
What isn’t in EBTs is performing pujas or even worse, pujas to Hindu deities. Holy water and holy strings, amulets etc isn’t EBT and even denounced in suttas. Performance of Astrology is also considered wrong livelihood for monks.
Having a statues of Buddha and his disciples isn’t strictly EBT but it is done in the spirit of symbolism in majority of places. This includes offering the dana to ‘them’ as well! 
The rituals around this however can be a bit strict. Offering flowers, lamps, incense etc are symbolic and add beauty to the event and I think are ok; but people in Asian countries need to desperately move on from doing only these rituals to actual practice.
Lay people need know that monks are renunciates and not gift limousines because the lay people are greedy for merit! The culture of merit is a huge problem as it eclipses real and difficult practice that is the N8FP.
Having said that dhamma sermons, discussion, meditation, sil days, Uposata practice, sutta study, Pali study, or any language that would facilitate learning the dhamma, retreats, dhamma libraries, areas of worship and things which facilitates access to the dhamma (yoga, other types of meditation like mindfulness etc) that isn’t a contradiction to the dhamma, would be deemed suitable in my opinion.
Temples coul do a lot better at spreading the dhamma and looking after the community they depend on and serve.
With metta
With the caveat that I am very new to Buddhist practice, having come to it well into middle age, what has appealed to me so much is precisely these types of resources that have been made available at the wat I have begun attending. As I noted previously, the wat serves the needs of the local (mostly) Thai immigrant community, and thus there are certain cultural elements that make the individuals in that community feel at home.
More importantly, the wat provides instruction for new practitioners such as myself who are finding in the Dhamma and in daily practice profound meaning. I came to a crossroads in life and one day showed up at the wat with no advance notice. Yet I was welcomed in, no questions asked, and in the short time I have been attending I have been provided with instruction and resources with which to begin my studies and daily practice. I truly have found refuge in Dhamma teachings and in the kindness and wisdom the monks and wat members have provided me.
I think there should be ideally some instructions for newcommers to the dhamma in each temple. Anything from real live person to instructions on what to do, or not do, etc at least some reading materials would be good. What helped you when you when to your local (wat), for the first time?
with metta
On my first visit I was given literature to read and a brief one-on-one with a monk who answered some basic questions and gave me an overview of Theravada practice. I also spoke with members of the wat who were present for a meal who explained to me how they incorporate Buddhist teachings into their daily lives (I was warmly invited to stay for the meal and I helped with meal clean-up to show my appreciation).
That sounds great. I was made similarly welcome, but it was a few months before a monk turned up who spoke good enough English to give me any serious instruction. In the meantime I hung out, did the precepts and refuges chanting each week, and helped with cleaning and gardening…
What would you have done if no English speaking monk turned up?
I’m not sure. Looking back, I actually learned a lot from just being in the community. The way things developed taught me that meditation and suttas is only a fraction of Dhamma, which I actually think was a really excellent lesson.
Since there is plenty of material on-line, in books, or in other types of groups if one wants to go into technical details, I’m not particularly worried about whether there opportunity for complex Dhamma discussion in such places. In fact, it’s somewhat of a relief to not have long, and often distracting, conversations about technicalities, which is what can easily happen at Western groups that I have attended.
Over the years I have also learned not to underestimate some of the lay people, who actually have quite a deep practice, though not in a hard-core meditation or sutta-study sort of way.
I have done a bit of research since I posted previously about discovering that in the large city an hour from where I live there are several Western groups devoted to Buddhist practice. What I have found is that there are more than just a few of such Western groups. Many of these groups have photo galleries of members and the members all look like me!
As I previously noted, at some point I am certain I will visit these groups, but for now I am happy with the wat located closer to where I live which primarily serves the Thai immigrant population. For my present needs what feels right is to be immersed in Buddhist practice. I shouldn’t judge the groups in the large city an hour away having never attended any of them, but my gut tells me that I am finding more peace and serenity, as well as learning, among the monks and lay people at my local wat than I would in a group of my presumed peers. Just a personal choice. That’s all.
If new Buddhists could understand this from the first day they walked in the door, Theravada Buddhism outside of Asia would work very well. And the new Buddhists would gain so much more from their experience.