Warm Welcomes

Recently I visited my wife’s family in Ohio for the holidays.  For the first time, I visited a Catholic Mass the day after Thanksgiving. For the first time in a long time I was in an unfamiliar situation. Not only was I in yankee land, but a Catholic mass is completely different than any service that I have ever been in. So many things were going on that made no sense to me. There were rituals everyone knew what to say exactly when to say it. I grew up in a Baptist church and knew what was going to happen before it happened and was pretty comfortable with it. But this was different. It was an all-new experience for me. Had I just been curious and wanted to experience church for the first time I would have been uncomfortable and lost. Thankfully I had a wonderful host in Mrs. Fox who was warm and explained everything to me. When something seemed weird she explained it. I was thankful for a host that was willing to walk me through it.

It made me think about all the church signs I see telling everyone in the town that they are welcome. No one wants to walk in and feel the way I did there. People don’t have a desire to invite that type of situation into their lives.  Those “welcome” signs are about as warm as a door mat under 3 feet of snow. It’s not personal and not effective. A lot of times we think we have done our duty to reach our community by hanging a sing in the front yard. If you desire to reach your community you have to get out be the one in a place that’s uncomfortable to you. Start with the people you know. Make a personal invitation. "Meet me outside at 9:45." "let's meet for breakfast/coffee first." "Ill come pick you up" Remove any of the insecurities someone might have walking into a new place. Who lives next door to you? Have you invited them? Its hard to believe but many people grow up in the bible belt and never get invited to church. Its like we have a treasure and we want to hoard it all to ourselves, like the supply will run out. News flash: God is infinite. 

One important note: Getting people to visit a church won't solve all their problems. Getting them to attend regularly or even become members won't either. People need a life changing experience; drawn by the Holy Spirt, they need an encounter with Jesus that leads into a life long relationship with God. They don't need to stop drinking and smoking and straighten up. They need wicked, dead hearts ripped out replaced with beating hearts of flesh. We need new life as the old is worthless. A church visit won't do that, but it sure can help. If you want to make the biggest impact, abide in the Spirit. Let the love of God fill you and let it pour out to the people around you. Instead of just inviting people, let them see the difference God has made in your life, lest you be like Lot and give unheeded warnings.