Loving our neighbour in the pew

You may think there's a typo in my title. Often pastors talk about the importance of not just being Sunday Christians. "We've got to live out the Good News throughout the week." That's really important to me too. But I think it's important to think about how to be Christian, how to act Christian when we come to church on Sunday too. There are many things we could talk about, and so this is a theme I will revisit in the future, but for now let's talk about loving our neighbour in the pew.

We believe Jesus when He said that our faith is fundamentally about our love for God and our love for our neighbour. But in the busyness of rushing into church on Sunday morning it's easy not to think about how to do that. As we park we can try to save spaces near the church for guests. And when we see newcomers we can greet them and introduce ourselves. But here are some other things you can say to guests on Sunday morning:

  1. "I'm glad you're here!" Think of what God has done for you through times of worship over the years and express your excitement that this person has taken the step to visit the church.
  2. "Is there anything I can do to help you get settled?" Finding the nursery, the washrooms, a place to hang your coat or even the sanctuary itself can be a challenge at first. Let's be a church that goes out of its way to offer help.
  3. "Please take my seat." We all know that there are too few seats in our sanctuary right now. We're working to address this and hope to be able to offer two services at some point in the New Year but in the meantime we all need to try and make room. What a witness it is when our people arrive early to take the unpopular seats at the front and in the middle rather than the aisles. What a witness it is when our people move so that families are able to sit together.
  4. Let me introduce you to ________." Introduce new people to me, introduce families with youth to Michael, introduce families with children to Lynn. Introduce guests to other people. Getting to know new people can be one of the most difficult parts of attending a new church. Let's make it easy for guests by making the introductions for them. And please gently encourage them to fill out a visitor's card because this is one of the key ways that we can follow up and connect with people as a church.
  5. "Are you free for lunch?" Most people can't do this every week. But it will transform our church if, even once a month, people offer hospitality to people they don't know as well. Let's build a family here at Grace and practice Biblical fellowship and see what God will do!

These suggestions are adapted from a couple of articles you can read here:
Ten things you should never say to a guest in a worship service
Seven things to say to guests in a worship service
 
In awe of Him,
Paul