THE WELCOME

I have had the opportunity to visit several churches in the past year, not all Baptist (that's been interesting). Most of the churches have one thing in common during their time of worship: the welcome. It's something I did too for many years in the churches I led. You know what the welcome is all about. After a song or two you're asked to turn around and greet as many people as possible in a minute or two or three. The purpose of the opening, at least from a pastor's perspective, is to give visitors the impression the church is friendly. There are two problems with the welcome that I saw as a pastor and now I see even more clearly as a visitor. First, members primarily greet one another and spend little time (if any) greeting visitors. Oh there might be a quick, "Glad to see you," but what I see mostly is people greet each other all around me and not greet me at all. That obviously gives the opposite impression of friendly. Second, visitors HATE the greeting. It makes most people even more uncomfortable than they are already. Visitors want to be as anonymous as possible. It may have taken all the courage they could muster just to show up. They need to be left alone during the service. Greet them before. Greet them after. Leave them alone during. Let God speak to them then.

There are many ways to let people know a church is people-oriented and friendly. The worship service is not one of them. That time should be devoted to a God-focus. That's likely why a visitor showed up to church in the first place. There is some spiritual need that God needs to tend to. He can and will do so if His people will stay out of the way. I would urge churches to rethink the welcome and eliminate it from the service. Work instead on how visitors are made welcome before the service and appreciated afterward.