Part of that beginning-of-the-school-year ramping up is returning to church; for quite a few of our neighbors and family, it may be finding a new worshipping community here, either because their journeys have brought them to Ithaca or because where they are on their life journey has changed (children reaching an age when they want them to learn about faith, etc.). So, whether you call it “church shopping,” visiting, or “auditioning” churches, in late August and early September we can expect more first time attenders.
So, welcome them!
Sure, we should be welcoming to everyone anyhow, and folks here are really good at that, but sometimes long-time members get shy. Often it’s not a question of social graciousness, since most here can be warm and welcoming. Often it seems we are terrified we will welcome long-time members we think we should know and embarrass ourselves. Get over it. Some of the material for generous welcoming suggests opening lines like, “Hi! I’m David Ashby, and I don’t recognize you. It’s good to see you today.” If someone answers, “Oh, I’ve been a member here for fifty years,” you can talk about that. If someone says, “Oh, I’m visiting,” you can then offer a big welcome and offer help with getting settled. If visitors have children, tell them about Sunday School and offer to show them the classroom. If you aren’t familiar with such things, hook them up with someone who is. Help them get oriented to the building and the worship service. Offer to sit with them. Actually the most important piece of hospitality sometimes is telling visitors where the restrooms are.
For all our sanctuary with the remarkable quilts and the powerful music program and the spiritual formation we offer children and youth, what matters to new attenders most is the warmth and agreeableness of the people who inhabit our church. Show ’em we’re nice. Simple as that.
One of the leading Presbyterian bloggers I follow, Todd Bollinger, posted a couple of weeks ago that their church was “no longer a welcoming church.” After that rather provocative lede, he wrote that they had decided to become an inviting church! I kinda liked that. Welcoming, Bollinger said, is a somewhat passive posture, whereas inviting hints at actively encouraging people to worship and other church activities.
So that idea pushes the conversation from the narthex out into the rest of the week. You know people. You know a lot of people. You know people seeking a spiritual community. Don’t be shy about asking them if they would like to attend here some Sunday with you. With you. It turns out in all the church growth literature, the personal invitation to attend worship with you is the greatest key. A familiar face and someone to sit with make a huge difference. You know people. You know this church… you know what to do to bring them together.
So do it. OK?
Another of my crazy colleagues was a new church development pastor in a suburb of Rochester some years ago, and he loved to end meetings with a cheery, “Hey! Invite your friends to church… and maybe even invite people you know you don’t like very much!”
Invite someone to join us this Sunday (and the Sunday after that and the Sunday after that and…) to meet this interesting lot of people on the journey of faith at First Congregational.
In Christ,
David
This week we welcome to FCCI the Rev. Dr. Wayne Gustafson, well-known to the congregation. Rev. Wayne Gustafson, is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, a Certified Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York. Presently, he is an adjunct instructor, teaching Psychology at Tompkins Cortland Community College and a contract pastoral counselor and psychotherapist with Susquehanna Family Counseling Ministry.
Texts for Sunday
From the Gospel Luke 12:49-56
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