This is a no-brainer question, but I'll ask it anyway: What kind of church would make you feel most welcome: a cold church where nobody speaks to you or acts interested that you are there, or a friendly church where people shake your hand, talk to your kid, and make you feel like you have been there before? The reason I ask this is because we have to always stay on guard to what kind of church we are becoming. Just because a church is known as a friendly church at one stage of its journey doesn't mean it reflects that at other stages.
As we grow at The Journey, we will have to remind ourselves again that it is important to make people feel welcome as they arrive for our worship gathering. The way you are treated when you come in helps prepare your heart for the worship and message later. If you were not treated kindly or recognized as you entered, chances are you are not going to have a great experience. Churches doing great things for God are churches in which people feel a part of it and welcomed to be there.
What can you do personally to ensure people are made to feel welcome? Will you make it something that matters to you?
* Instead of going to a seat when you get in, go to the lobby and shake hands or the coffee bar
* Don't go to the same people you already know, bathroom, or coffee bar during the 2 minute break time
* Join the Host Team and make welcoming people a part of your mission on Sundays
* Seek out faces that are not familiar and go introduce yourself and welcome them to The Journey
* Be intentional...make it a personal goal to ensure people feel welcome
* Ask good questions to people you talk to...find out where they work, where they are from, how they heard about The Journey, etc. Be careful about asking people if its their first time (the larger we grow, the higher the chances are that someone has been there a while and you have never met them...asking if its their first time could offend them)
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