|
It was uncomfortably
chilly sitting in the car in the early fall
morning. As I waited for the church to open for
Sunday services it began to strike me as a little
odd that the doors would be locked with only about
15 minutes to go until the start of services.
That is calling it pretty close. I couldn't see
the church doors directly from where I sat, but I
also had not seen any cars pull up or anyone walk
along the sidewalk. Perhaps I had the time wrong.
Then a car pulled
across the street from the church. A family got
out and crossed the street towards the church.
Curious, I left my car, walked to the street, and
saw that they had disappeared. I walked up to the
church doors. They were still locked. But from
where I stood I now saw the doors into the parish
hall. When I entered the hall I was warmly
welcomed and learned that those doors had been
open for some time.
This experience
brought to mind a parallel with Advent. We are
preparing to welcome the arriving Christ. While
we go about doing Bible studies, preparing for
Christmas services, rehearsing pageants, making
plans to feed the underprivileged, and otherwise
dealing with the busyness of the season, will we
be adequately prepared to welcome our arriving
Messiah? Perhaps it would be constructive to
pause and consider the welcome we offer in our
churches and in our functioning as church members.
For business clients
I sometimes do what is known as a cycle of service
audit. This analyzes the entire experience a
customer has with the client business, breaking it
down into moments of truth; individual experiences
that combine to form the customers’ conscious or
subconscious feeling towards the business.
Frequently the business will receive high marks in
obvious areas, such as lighting and cleanliness,
but will fail in the overall evaluation because of
overlooking important basics.
It would serve us
well to consider the entire experience a guest or
a parish member has with our church; a cycle of
welcome audit, if you will. As I have visited
many churches around the country I have
experienced examples of confusing or inadequate
signs, lack of clarity as far as where to enter
the church, ushers who provide order more than
offer welcome and assistance, double entry doors
with only one door unlocked, and telephone
information messages that give outdated service
information, to name a few. We are so used to our
church home, that we are not very intentional
about experiencing our church’s welcome through
the eyes of a stranger.
What does this have
to do with you? In the church this cycle of
welcome begins with the individual church member.
Remember the basic courtesy lessons you received
as a child: holding the door for the elderly,
helping people with their packages, men opening
doors for women. That's where it starts. Ask
yourself how you can offer welcome? Look for
opportunities to serve those around you. Is the
person sitting next to you having some difficulty
following the service? Is someone standing in the
hallway looking confused? Help them. It’s that
simple.
Our church will be
beautiful for Christmas Eve. The services will be
magnificent. Let us work at offering a beautiful
personal welcome to the strangers who will join
us. |
