Welcoming others at church is vitally important

While I was on Sabbatical, I had the opportunity to visit other churches in my city that I usually am not able to visit. Usually, I attended by myself, as my family had rostered commitments at our home church, and mostly I went to churches where I did not know many people. Some of them were from my own denomination and others were either in my local area or I knew them from somewhere. Visiting churches is an eye-opening experience in many ways.

As you would expect, there is a large variation in what happens up the front in different churches. They sing different songs in different styles. They are led in different ways with different liturgical traditions. The preaching varied a lot from close explanation of the Bible text with no application through to sermons with a lot of illustration and application but very little Bible. It was refreshing to hear God’s word explained in different ways and encouraging to sing a different range of songs to what I am used to.

Do you know what left a lasting impression and determined whether I would ever visit a church again? Whether I was welcomed or not.

Most churches do a poor job of welcoming. Many of the churches I visited did have people at the door with the task of welcoming newcomers. In most of these cases I walked right past them without being greeted because the welcomers were speaking to someone else at the time. A handshake and a friendly exchange of names at a couple of churches made a big difference to how comfortable I felt when I arrived, but it was rarer than you’d expect.

But what made the biggest difference was not the formal rostered welcomers, but the welcome from the general congregation members. I usually arrived around 15 minutes early as I wasn’t sure about the timing of the travel and the parking. So, after entering the building, I would go to the chairs and sit down somewhere by myself. In many churches, no-one spoke to me in the 15 minutes before the service began. There were people there, people who were greeting one another and speaking to their friends, but often no-one came to speak to me. On one memorable occasion, I could hear people talking to their friends about the fact that there was a visitor, yet none of them spoke to me directly!

A few churches did come across very warmly. In these churches, one or more ordinary members came over to introduce themselves. They spoke to me about how they loved their church and were interested in why I had come. This left a very strong impression on me.

I am a big believer in being careful and faithful in what we do at the front of a church service. I want theologically accurate songs, helpful service leading, thoughtful prayers, and faithful and applied preaching of God’s word. Yet the truth is that even if a church does all of this well, and yet no-one speaks to a visitor, that visitor is probably not coming back.

There are few things more important to do in the time around a Sunday worship gathering than to greet and welcome people, especially if they are newcomers. You don’t know their situation or why they have come. Perhaps they are new to the country, or new to church, or just having a hard time. Those friendly words that make them feel comfortable might make their day; they will certainly change how they feel about being at your church.

Next Sunday, arrive a little early to church and just walk over to someone you don’t know. Introduce yourself and ask them about themselves. It will make more impact than you might imagine.