A few years ago I read a great article by Col Marshall called 'Ministry of the Pew' about the service that every person can do when they come to church - even when they aren't up front and are 'in the pew'. Seeing as we don't have pews anymore, and since we have our new plastic and steel chairs, I thought it was time to update it to 'Ministry of the Light Blue Chairs'.
For #1, I wanted to raise welcoming people at church.
At this time of year there are new people around who we can welcome. There are all kinds of reasons why we find it hard to welcome new people, thoughts like: 'I probably should already know them and it is too late to start now'; 'They probably wouldn't want to talk'; 'It's 40 degrees in here...'. But we must! For God has welcomed us back to him in the gospel. To be like God is to offer a welcome. Col Marshall said:
"We enjoy meeting our friends at church, but we need to develop a nose for new people. We need to sit with them and help them feel comfortable in this strange place by introducing ourselves and explaning what is going on. We should greet the non-Christian friends of other members and introduce our friends to theirs".
And as a 5pm friend said:
"Our every smile, hello and chat (or walking right past) will be important in the view that person forms of us as a whole, and possibly also in their assessment of Jesus. Great to be able to invite visitors to the summer evening events. We might also need reminding that hospitality (planned and spontaneous) can have a huge impact on a new person, esp someone who's just moved to Perth".
At 5pm church we have a workgroup called 'Meet and Greet' with the specific aim of looking out for new people. Why not be a part of this group?
Here are some tips:
1. look out and sit with new comers or friends with guests
2. introduce yourself before or after the service
3. invite them to coffee or some of our Summer Times events (see below). Meeting outside the service makes a big difference.
Over to you....
At this time of year there are new people around who we can welcome. There are all kinds of reasons why we find it hard to welcome new people, thoughts like: 'I probably should already know them and it is too late to start now'; 'They probably wouldn't want to talk'; 'It's 40 degrees in here...'. But we must! For God has welcomed us back to him in the gospel. To be like God is to offer a welcome. Col Marshall said:
"We enjoy meeting our friends at church, but we need to develop a nose for new people. We need to sit with them and help them feel comfortable in this strange place by introducing ourselves and explaning what is going on. We should greet the non-Christian friends of other members and introduce our friends to theirs".
And as a 5pm friend said:
"Our every smile, hello and chat (or walking right past) will be important in the view that person forms of us as a whole, and possibly also in their assessment of Jesus. Great to be able to invite visitors to the summer evening events. We might also need reminding that hospitality (planned and spontaneous) can have a huge impact on a new person, esp someone who's just moved to Perth".
At 5pm church we have a workgroup called 'Meet and Greet' with the specific aim of looking out for new people. Why not be a part of this group?
Here are some tips:
1. look out and sit with new comers or friends with guests
2. introduce yourself before or after the service
3. invite them to coffee or some of our Summer Times events (see below). Meeting outside the service makes a big difference.
Over to you....
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