Its hard being new at church. On Long Service Leave we got to re-experience what its like being new at a church. We visited lots of different churches where they clearly loved Jesus and each other.
But the question we felt most strongly was whether they loved us? We were strangers in their midst. We didn’t know what was going on, where to sit, where the toilets and coffee were. We felt alone. We wanted them to display God’s goodness to us.
Now as Christmas approaches, many people will visit us over the summer holidays. Some won’t know Jesus. Some will.We want to love these guests just as Jesus our Lord loves.
We need to be hospitable; to generously take the initiative in walking up to someone we don’t know. I can’t wait for someone new to make the effort.
We need to willingly sacrifice our own comfort, or the chance to catch up with friends, our shyness or awkwardness in order to sit and talk with them during church. We can look out for them in following weeks to continue to help ease their way into church.
We will seek to connect them into the life of church. We can introduce them to others. We want to invite them to Newish so they can find out more about HBC (Remember Newish is on every 4th Sunday for Lambton and City, and every Sunday after church for Unichurch). Its important to chat with them about their experience of Jesus.
We can ask them how long they have been coming to HBC? How did they come to find our church? Have they been to other churches before? What was their experience of church? If they say they are Christian, what do they think is the best thing about being Christian?
But one of the big things I learnt about being new is my kids are also new. They need to be welcomed too. At some churches they were shunned by the other kids and they never wanted to go back. At others they were welcomed with open arms and given show bags by the church. They loved that church! And it wasn’t surprising that the parents also welcomed us adults with open arms.
If we are parents, its our job to train our kids so they grow up with the expectation that church is an opportunity to love others. We model hospitality to our kids. They will see and copy us when we welcome others. And we can talk with them about who they played with and chatted with over morning tea.
So what are your thoughts on how we can love people who are new amongst us?
