Am I Welcome Here?

There’s a ministry in our churches that frequently seems to go unnoticed. It’s the Welcome ministry, in which a church member greets visitors and hands out programs for the upcoming service. It’s not as prominent as the preacher or the music team, and sometimes I think we view this ministry in lower esteem.

I never realized how critical that ministry was until I began my own search for a new church home. Suddenly, I was on the outside looking in. Sometimes, no one seemed to care whether I came back or not.

How many of us, as greeters, have really understood the impact we are having when we serve in this way? Do we take the time to give a sincere word of welcome, or do we just hand over a program? Do we reach out and touch these visitors in a meaningful way, as our brothers and sisters, or as needy ones seeking help? To paraphrase a famous saying, WE are the only Bibles that these people may ever read!

It’s been said that, during a job interview, the first fifteen seconds are the most critical, because potential employers put tremendous trust in that first impression. On his website, Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers) discusses the speed at which human beings make pivotal decisions about a new person or setting: “When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions.”

What are we doing during those critical first moments? Will our visitors wander our churches like lost sheep, and wander out again after services, never to be seen again? Or will we welcome them into our church families, as Jesus welcomed us to come to Him?

Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today?
Under the shadow of our steeple,
With all the lost and lonely people,
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me.
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

If judgment looms under every steeple,
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we've never even met her...

~~Excerpt from ”Does Anybody Hear Her?” by Casting Crowns, Lifesong album