Welcoming Church Visitors

Rev. Don Miller

I grew up in the K-O Conference and was ordained here in 1971.  I then served congregations in Penn NE, Massachusetts and Florida Conferences. 

When I returned to K-O in 1986, I had just completed ten years working to revitalize two Churches in the Florida Conference UCC.  My new Call was to lead a Topeka congregation that was experiencing serious decline.  My work helped stabilize that congregation and it continues to thrive.  While in Florida, I received training and support from the UCC’s Division of Evangelism and Church Extension.  I was then asked to help K-O and Rocky Mountain Conferences organize a three-year series of workshops and strategies on “Welcome and Hospitality,” to help other churches stabilize and grow.

Over the years, Church Growth strategies have changed and we approach welcome and hospitality in different ways today.  But sometimes old ways need to be revisited.  This might be one of those times.  My thinking grew out of a conversation at a monthly gathering of Retired K-O Clergy, led by Fred Kandeler of our Conference staff, around returning to in-person worship. 

It is Good News that our hospitality focus has shifted to include welcoming people of different races, cultures, ethnicities and sexual orientations and gender identities.  But it is not Good News that we have lost some of the basics of how to welcome people when they come through our doors.  It is especially important that we think of our “welcoming” strategies right now! 

For over a year now, we have been worshipping online.  Our clergy have reported that our on-line attendance is far larger than our in-person worship was before the pandemic.  Some Churches have already begun in-person worship and others will be returning to our buildings soon.  We can’t wait to welcome and greet our friends whom we haven’t seen for months. 

How we do it could cause us to miss one of the biggest opportunities for growth and evangelism we’ve ever had!  Let me ask you a question:  What will happen if some of those on-line worshippers show up on Sunday?  What will they experience? This is the most probable scenario:  They will show up feeling anxious and timid, as they enter a new place with new people – as strangers.  And they will be ignored because we are so busy welcoming each other. 

So please, make a plan!  Be prepared for new people to show up in the next couple of months.  Make sure people are trained to spot and welcome these newcomers.  Greet them, invite them to sit with you, introduce them to others near you.  And wait till the end of the service to reconnect and catch up on the lives of our long-time Church friends! 

This is a small window of opportunity, and if we miss welcoming any visitors who might show up, they may not return.  It’s all of our responsibilities to welcome each other – beginning with our visitors – into the Body of Christ we call the Church!