Matthew 5:47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? 

 

Almost every church thinks they are a friendly church but are they really? Many church members are friendly to the people they have known for years but they are not so friendly to those who are new. When a person visits a church for the first time it can be very overwhelming and intimidating. I have been a pastor for many years and a Christian for even longer… yet when I visit other churches, I still sense a level of uncertainly and uneasiness. Will I know what do to and where to go? What is permissible here and what is discouraged? Will the people be nice, or will they be distant? Visiting a new church can almost be compared to visiting a foreign country and there can be some “culture shock” involved.

 

At The Mission Church of Lexington, we understand this and want to do everything we can to intentionally minimize this discomfort. We look at every new person who attends as a guest and not just a visitor. A visitor is somebody you might expect to stay briefly then depart but a guest we want to make feel at home! Our goal is to turn every guest into a consistent attender then into a Covenant Member than into a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

 

It has been determined by research that most first-time church attenders determine within their mind if they have a positive or negative evaluation of their church experience within the first 7 minutes after arriving on campus. This means before they are able to experience the celebrative worship experience or the Biblical passionate preaching… they have already made a mental and emotional evaluation of the church. This means that the hospitality and greeting ministry is critically important! We want to make every guest and attendee of TMC feel welcomed, wanted, and warm.

 

The Mission Church of Lexington has a Hospitality Team who intentionally welcomes every attendee and guest. They hand out worship bulletins and seat guests. This team serves as the “first impressions” for TMC!!! We are always looking for volunteers to serve on this super important team. If you are interested and available, please contact the Hospitality Team Leader, Hoang Duong 859-699-9590.

 

However, everyone at TMC should consider themselves a member of the Hospitality Team even if you are not officially on the team volunteer list. This blog post will give you a simple strategy and method you can use each week to help create the friendliest church possible! This is important because the friendlier a church is the more guests they will receive and keep, the more guest a church receives and keeps the more salvations and baptisms they will experience, the more salvations and baptisms they experience the more Covenant Members they will have which results in greater Kingdom impact and Gospel expansion for the great glory of God!!!

 

Here is the simple strategy: For the 5 minutes immediately before and the 5 minutes directly after the worship service starts and ends, every TMC Covenant Member should intentionally seek out guests or irregular attenders to welcome them warmly and to simply chat for a few minutes, while listening for needs, showing interest, and answering questions. Simple, right!? Use the acronym W.I.N. to help you with this plan. I will provide some sample phrases, but you will need to personalize them to fit your unique preference and personality.

 

W- Welcome- “Hello, it is wonderful to see you today! My name is Cletus, what’s yours?” or “It is so great to see you! Welcome to the Mission Church, if you don’t already have plans to sit with someone, please feel free to sit with me and my family.”, or “Good morning, it’s a beautiful day to be in church with friends! I am not sure I have had the pleasure of meeting you; my name is Earnest.” Etc. Remember that a smile and a friendly handshake/fist bump goes a long way! Be cautious, some people are huggers, but others are not… be wise and discerning in this matter. Be extra discerning if you hug anyone from the opposite gender.

 

I- Interests- Most people like to talk about their favorite subject…themselves. Ask about their families, their work, their hobbies, their kids… even better their grandkids! Show genuine interest, make good eye contact, don’t look past or around them, don’t fiddle with your watch or phone, be a good active listener and ask good open-ended questions. As it is often said, people will not care what you know until they know that you care. “Please tell me a little bit about yourself”, or “Oh, that is so interesting, please tell me more!” Etc.

 

N- Needs- “How can we best serve you and your family”, or “How can I pray for you”. If your spiritual antenna has been up and you have been listening well you will have the opportunity to speak words of encouragement or take a few moments to pray with them, or share the Gospel with them, or connect them to one of the pastors for additional pastoral care. Here is when the W.I.N. strategy gets really fun… you will have opportunities to minster in very practical and meaningful ways! Maybe you invite the person to lunch with you and your family… maybe you schedule a coffee and conversation to share the Gospel.

 

Simple and effective! A casual and friendly conversation can transform those awkward minutes for a guest into Gospel opportunities and maybe, just maybe, new lifelong friendships! Will you get started practicing W.I.N. this Sunday?

 

If this blog post has grabbed your curiosity and you would like to know more, please pursue any/all of the below options:

1-              Contact me at pastor@missionchurchlex.org

2-              Check out our church website www.missionchurchlex.org

3-              Visit us for Community Celebration and Worship every Sunday at 9am and 11am (Facebook livestreaming available at 9am)   

                  and Mission Groups each Wednesday at 6:30pm. We are located at 3288 Beaver Creek Drive Lexington, KY 40515.

4-              Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missionchurch.lex

5-              Continue to read this weekly blog- “Find your Why with Pastor D.”