A Friendly Church
"So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!" --Romans 15:7, The Message
I was wondering this week about something. Do visitors feel welcome when they attend our worship services at Shelby Crossings on Sunday? Do they find our church to be warm and kind and friendly to outsiders? Do the people on the row next to them introduce themselves, welcome them to our church, and even invite them to a Life Group or Small Group?
Several years back, Thom Rainer wrote a blog entitled "Top Ten Ways Churches Drive Away First-Time Guests." At the top of the list was "Having a stand up and greet one another time in the worship service," and second was "Unfriendly church members." In other words, people don't want a contrived, inauthentic greeting time when they come to a church, awkwardly orchestrated from the stage to create a psuedo-welcoming environment for visitors. But they do want people to be genuinely kind and friendly to them when they take the step to try out our worship service.
The reality is, everyone thinks their church is a friendly church, but the real question is, do outsiders feel that way? I have shared a story before about attending a church service once with my young family that seemed to go out of their way to be unfriendly, only to be handed a "gift" during their visitor recognition time. It was a pen with the church's name on it, with the inscription below: "The end of your search for a friendly church." Or not.
I think most of us believe we have a unique loving fellowship at Shelby Crossings, but I wonder if our guests would agree. How much do you, as a member or regular attender of our church, make the effort each week to welcome unfamiliar faces, meet new people, and make them feel at home? Let me say it another way: If everyone greets a guest the same way you do, will that guest feel welcome?
It's a point we make often around here, that the church is not a building, nor even a worship service, but a people, a family. We are the church. You are the church. And how friendly and welcoming the church is, is determined by how friendly youare.
In some ways this relates to our topic from last Sunday's message about being a servant. It's a major paradigm shift in how you see church. If you see yourself as the "customer" who is there to be served, then your only focus will be on yourself and your needs. But if you as a member or regular attender see yourself as a servant, then your focus will be on others, and you will take an active role in making visitors and new attenders feel welcome. And it all begins with a simple mindset change: "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:4)
So let me challenge you to step out of your comfort zone this coming Sunday and to be on the lookout for guests, or even regulars that you've never met. Introduce yourself, make a new friend, sit down next to them, invite them to lunch afterwards even. Just don't leave our gathering for worship without being as welcoming to others as Jesus Christ has been to you.
I am praying for you, as I hope you are for me, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday.
--Pastor Ken
