Today I had a conversation about visitors being welcomed publicly during a church service. I've already written that I personally find this part of the church service cringe inducing.
It's not that I don't care about visitors or want them to be shunned by the church, but if I were the first-timer, it would FREAK ME OUT!
I would want to blend in.
Today I hear that the bar has been raised.
The public..."tell us where you're from" introduction with a microphone.
The discussion made me think about visitors in churches and how we treat them.
I read somewhere that the most important visitor is NOT those who are visiting for the first time.
The most important visitor is the one who visits for the second time.
If they are a repeat visitor, then it indicates that they are beyond a we-are-on-holidays-visiting-Nan type guest and may be interested in connecting with your church.
The trouble? We (often embarrassingly) publicly introduce them on the first visit and quickly loose our welcoming vigor at the subsequent visits.
While they have the microphone, we could ask them to lead the prayers, right?
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