Neighborhood Ministries

Welcoming Church-I often visit churches as part of my work. When I travel, I will often attend a church near the motel where I spend Saturday night. In addition, I often visit churches when I am working with a pastor to familiarize myself with the church. When I walk in, I am no different than any other person visiting the church. The people don’t know if I just moved into town and am seeking a church to attend or if I am merely passing through. The reception I get varies a great deal. Sometimes, I am warmly greeted and invited to return, but other  times I wonder if anyone noticed that I was visiting. Usually I am not familiar with the church and may have to ask directions to the sanctuary or the restrooms. That is usually a sure sign someone is a visitor because a regular attender would know where those were. If someone is visiting and looking for a church to attend, the reception they get will often determine whether they return. It is important to have people at the doors to greet people and direct visitors to where they need to go so they don’t end up wandering around aimlessly.  Those people need to be taught to provide whatever help visitors may  need. It not only makes their visit easier, it shows them that you care about them. Some way should be made to secure their information so the church can follow up. Some churches have an information center just inside the door staffed by greeters to direct people and get information on visitors. The greeters may have cards or you may put cards in the pew. If so, an announcement should be made during the opening of the service to encourage visitors to fill the cards out and give them to an usher in case they don’t notice them on their own. Once returned, the church needs to follow up. A card should be sent at the very least but a phone call is much better. Ideally, the pastor or a church leader should visit. It should be done in the first week if possible because the longer it is delayed, the least receptive the visitor will be. The church should also seek to get to know visitors to other events like VBS, Bible studies, potlucks and concerts. While people attending those events may have another church affiliation, people do attend who have no church affiliation and may be receptive to an invitation to  attend.

Welcoming Church-Many churches grew lazy in the mid-1900’s because they had a steady source of new members to replace those who died or moved away. Most people had a church background. Many who attended as a child and dropped out after leaving home, would return after they got married and started to have kids, so they kids would get Christian training in Sunday School. In addition, those who moved into town would seek out a church of the denomination that their previous church belonged to.  There were also evangelists like Billy Graham who reached the unchurched and then sent them to a church near where they lived. As a result, the churches didn’t have to reach out to the lost and many dropped their evangelism programs. Many churches have become complacent and don’t make any attempt to reach the unchurched, in spite of the fact that the number of those with a church background is shrinking as people drop out of church and never return. Their children are now growing up with no knowledge of church and see no reason to attend. Many church complain that their church is dying because they aren’t replacing those  that die or move away, yet they make no attempt to reach the growing number of the unchurched. Christ told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and while some churches still have mission programs to reach the lost in foreign countries, they make no effort to reach the lost in their neighborhood.