A Church Visitor's Reflection - Grace Community Church

This last Lord’s Day we worshiped at a church while on vacation in Oregon. We were blessed to hear a representative from Voice of the Martyrs. There were about 150 people in attendance, which is pretty good for such a small town. We walked in and were greeted by the greeter. We sat down and people were talking all around us, smiling, laughing, enjoying each other. After church another greeter asked us where we were camping. We know that we don’t go to church for attention, we go to worship God and hear His Word. However, we had a discussion on our way back to the cabin which I wanted to share with you. Although we will go back to the church again, we felt out of place. It wasn’t that we were offended or slighted because no one talked to us, but we did feel out of place, like we did not belong. We are not overly sensitive people, but we did not FEEL like we were with family, we felt like we were outsiders.

So how do people feel when they attend Grace Community Church? The very last thing any of us should want is for someone to say, “Wow, they really care about each other, but nobody cared that I was here.”

If I could speak ex cathedra, with binding authority, I would say, “Go out of your way every Lord’s Day to meet someone you don’t know, greet someone who looks new, make people feel welcomed, like they belong, let them know you are glad they are here!”

Here are some things to say to someone sitting down, looking a little out of place….
“Hi”
“I am so and so, what’s your name?”
“We are glad you are here today.”
“Do you have any questions or anything I could help you with?”
“We have lunch together after morning service, we would be honored if you joined us.”
“Have you met our pastors?” Then take them to one of the elders and introduce them!

If you are talking to one of your brothers or sisters, and you see out the corner of your eye someone new walking away, break off the conversation and talk to the new person! If the old person gets offended, they will get over it, and should get a clue that they should talk to new people too!

We should do to others as we would have them do to us. “That’s not my personality” is a poor excuse for non-Christian behavior.

Grace ought to be a place where people feel warmly accepted and like they belong.

In Christ,
Pastor Brian