make sure that people can follow your worship service and it isn’t confusing. “We’ve forgotten what we’re
called to do—we’re not here to keep the clubhouse open. We’re called to bring God’s word, and we must do it in new and diff erent ways. “We live in a channel-changing society. If people
don’t like what they see, they change the channel. It’s the same in the church today. You’ve got fi ve minutes to get them before you’ll lose them, especially if you don’t let them know that they’re welcome.” A church’s fi rst welcome, Fritch said, is its website.
He suggested making it clear and inviting since people will oſt en Google search a church before visiting. “T e website gets people into the front door even before they ever walk in,” he said, “so show photos of happy people and not just shots of the building. “If you want to welcome the community, then wel-
come it. On our church exterior sign we acknowledge other religious holidays. T at kind of action says who we are to the world. We put up Ramadan messages, Jew- ish New Year’s greetings and Diwali signs for our Hindu friends. It says we’re an open and welcoming church. We send blessings to our neighbors. T at’s a part of getting people in the door before they come in the door.” Our Saviour also avoids fellowship or coff ee hours,
which, “to quote Dickens, ‘are the best of times, the worst of times,’ ” Fritch said. “One thing I’ve found is
Angela Denker, a pastor of Messiah, greets Sue Lindemulder after worship. Den- ker says welcoming is about churches looking for their gifts and picking a niche.
that a coff ee hour for an introvert is bad. An introvert doesn’t want attention drawn to him. And never ever make people stand at the end of service and say who they are or why they came—or wear a name tag. It’s horrible
for a newcomer. T ey’ll never come back; we have not welcomed them.” Fritch advised congregations to be true to themselves:
“If you’re not yet a multicultural congregation, just be the best church you can be. Don’t try to be who you are not.” Angela Denker, pastor of community life and dis-
cipleship at Messiah Lutheran Church in Yorba Linda, Calif., agreed: “Churches have to know who they are and be welcoming in a way that fi ts. If you’re a rural congregation, your approach is diff erent from an urban congregation. Each church has to look for its giſt s. We oſt en try to be too many things to too many people, instead of picking a niche.” When this fragmentation happens, she added, no
one’s interests are well served. Denker wrote about the phrase “all are welcome” for
Sojourners magazine (
https://sojo.net/articles/3-ways- all-are-welcome-hurting-church). She said barriers have developed, not through any fault of people in church but because of changes over the years. She high- lighted three: • Too oft en, all aren’t welcome aft er all. We create hoops for newcomers to jump through and unwrit- ten rules, and people won’t explain the unwritten rules.
• All are welcome, including bullies. Sometimes the church doesn’t do a good enough job of exercising church discipline for those who need it.
• All are welcome and no one’s needs are met. We try to be everything to everyone. Everyone wants to be the church with lots of children’s programs, or the congregation with diversity, or one that helps the homeless. Pick a niche and stick with it. “Where are we going?” Smith asked. “If we can’t see
with our numbers diminishing that something needs to change, that our mindset needs to change, then I don’t know what will make a diff erence. Just having a sign that ‘all are welcome’ isn’t enough. You have to live that sign.”
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www.thelutheran.org
Author bio: Healy is a freelance writer and a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Brewster, N.Y.
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