The First Baptist Church of Redlands
TA PE S T RY Woven Together In Love: Colossians 2:2 MAY 2017
ISSUE No. 5
A MESSAGE FROM PASTOR SHAWN
You’re Welcome! Almost every church thinks that they are friendly. And maybe they are…to each other. I have visited churches where no one speaks to me from the time I get out of my car until I get back in it again. Now maybe they think that I don’t want to be interrupted or spoken to by a stranger and so they respect my privacy and allow me to attend their church in peace…maybe. I have been told that people find our church to be friendly, and they are not just people from our church telling me. I am glad people experience us that way. Of course, we may not hear from the ones that don’t think so. The fact is, no matter how friendly we are naturally, we need to be intentional about making our church a welcoming place. This, of course, begins with the people. It is everyone’s job, no matter how long you have been here, whether or not you are on staff, an official leader, or even a member. If you have been a part of anything we do at The First Baptist Church of Redlands it is your job to be friendly and intentionally welcoming. Is there someone at coffee hour that you have never seen before or never met? Go meet them. Even if you find out they have been
at the church for some time, it’s ok to go introduce yourself. You will not seem “pushy,” just friendly. Another way to be welcoming is to sit in a different place in worship (I am not talking about everyone moving into the balcony). Sit with someone you haven’t sat with before and take the opportunity before or after worship to talk with them. It wouldn’t hurt to mix it up a bit at Thursday night dinners. That would be a great place to get to know someone you haven’t spent time with as you share a meal. We all need to look around as we come to church to imagine what it would be like if this were your first time at FBCR. Is it easy for a new person to figure out where to go? Do new people know about the other things we do as a church or the special occasions? Do we invite people we know to come enjoy the activities we all enjoy at church? Who are you planning to invite to the church picnic or to one of our great summer barbecues? There are a couple of places near the church that I enjoy going for a cup of coffee and a snack. Yes, they have good coffee, but more than that they are friendly. There is a nice atmosphere is established
by the people who work there. I enjoy seeing the person behind the counter because they seem genuinely happy I decided to come there for a cup of coffee. They seem interested in whether or not I am having a nice day. They recognize I have been there before. If a coffee place can do that, wouldn’t it be nice if our church could be that kind of place…we even have good coffee! Let’s pay attention to those kinds of places and ask ourselves, do people experience that kind of atmosphere when they come to our church? What can we learn from other places and people about being welcoming and inviting? Let us be an intentionally welcoming church. There are more questions we can ask ourselves in order to make ourselves more sensitive to what new people are experiencing when they come to the First Baptist Church of Redlands. Let’s ask ourselves those questions and see what we might do to be inviting, friendly, inclusive and welcoming community of people striving to follow Jesus. It may be in our friendliness when someone comes to know God in a more personal and meaningful way.