How do you make people feel genuinely welcome in a church, without inadvertently pushing them away because your efforts make you come on too strong? This is an issue of concern especially with a lot of smaller congregations struggling to hold on to their membership, such as it is.
Here are a few things that have come up at various times when I’ve had this discussion with others:
- Err on the side of assuming an unfamiliar person is a newcomer rather than not speaking with them at all
- Don’t require newcomers to come forward if they are uncomfortable doing so
- Consider having an information table available, since everyone doesn’t always stay around for a coffee hour or other fellowship events
- Don’t assume that visitors will know who they need to speak to if they’re interested in further information. Consider pointing out the contact person or have them make the necessary announcement themselves
- Never pressure anyone into activities or groups they’re not interested in, even in the context of joking about how they “need to be there”
- Consider the fact that some people have past negative experiences with certain types of activities from previous congregations and this is a major reason to avoid putting pressure on
These are just a few things worth keeping in mind. Ideally, attending a church shouldn’t be emotionally harmful, but this is something that’s too much of a problem in some peoples’ lives that we all need to think about.
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