Reflections on Visiting a Church...

Visiting a church is always a strange and interesting experience!

While on vacation, Sharon and I had the experience of visiting two local churches.  My relfections are not so much a criticism  of these churches as much as a hope that we at Community of Joy will learn from the experience and do better!

If you have never visited a strange (new) church and are actively involved in a church, you ought to avail yourself of that opportunity to feel what our guests feel when they visit.   It is not an easy thing to go into a place where you have never been and don't know people.

In both instances, Sharon and I knew a few people at each church.

Our experience at both churches were pretty much the same.  We got there 15 minutes before the start of worship and hung around in the back a bit and then took our seats.  We found both churches to be pretty cold in terms of welcoming us.  In fact, with two exceptions, the only people who greeted us were people we already knew before we entered.   In each situation, we did have one person that we didn't know prior to going - the first was an elder in the church and he came over and introduced himself to us and told us he was an elder and that the pastor had suggested he come introduce himself to us.  As far as I am concerned, he would have been better off not coming over at all!  No one likes to be greeted by someone because it is what they were told to do!

The second was a lady who was curious to know who we were and when she found out we were not prospects... she didn't carry on too much longer!

I write all this because welcoming guests is so CRITICAL we must do it well!   We never get a second chance to make a first impression!  So, I hope that at Community of Joy we go out of our way to make guests feel welcomed and valued!  It is really not that hard to do!  It just takes intentional effort - making sure we greet each other AFTER we greet our guests.  Introducing our friends to the guest!  Taking an interest in them!