Worship

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WHAT MANY THOUGHT WAS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED MAY HAVE TURNED OUT TO BE A DISEASE!

INFORMATION: Having spoken in many churches around the western part of our country it has been noticed that something has been creeping into the church in the last few years.

It is a disease. A disease that is so subtle I fear many may not have even noticed its presence much less its existence. The frightening part of this disease is that most people don't even know they have it, nor that they are transmitting it.

This disease is very contagious between churches and seems to affect the vast majority of the people in any church that is exposed. Indeed if you are a visitor in one of these churches you will know within the first moments which members have contracted the disease and which ones have avoided its effects.

This disease is not isolated to only one group of churches for it has been observed in churches in several different associations and groups.

It is personally believed by this author that this disease is being transmitted from church to church by pastors and other church members that visit churches other than their own while traveling around the country. They attend a church where this disease has taken its toll, and unwittingly take the germ which produces the problem home to their own church where it is introduced to the song leader, or the pastor or maybe the Adult Sunday School teacher, who in turn unleashes the early stages of the disease upon the congregation in a morning worship service. Once this process has taken place the stages of development of the disease are automatic.

Now, let us examine this problem in more detail so that we can begin to diagnose and develop treatment to combat the effects of this sickness.

Have you noticed when you visit a new church how the church people react to visitors? It has been noticed that in many churches the church folk are very standoffish, and at times they seem to avoid the visitors.

Naturally the pastor is frustrated, as are the visitors that wonder if they forgot to use Dial, if they have spinach between their teeth, or if they are REALLY sure.

Just one example will suffice to illustrate what is being observed. I recently attended a church of about two hundred people. Upon entering the building I had no idea where the Sunday school class was meeting so began walking around the long narrow area outside of the sanctuary. After five minutes of strange looks and wandering around I left in frustration. I returned for the morning service and in all of this there was only one person that indicated that he knew that I was present.

As is usual in these cases the next thing that was noticed was that someplace in the service there was a time when the songleader introduced the visitor to this disease. Visitors have been welcomed from the pulpit and they are relieved that they did not have to stand and say their name, when all of a sudden it is announced that it is time to say hello to the visitors. You are one of four or five new people in the congregation of 200 and you suddenly find dozens of people approaching from all sides telling you dozens of names that you couldn't remember if you had a tape recorder in hand.

The disease is called "Firstime greeter visit itis". It is somewhat difficult to pronounce so let me give you a layman's definition of the disease. It is called the "I-won't-introduce-myself-to-you-now-

because-I-will-have-to-greet-you-later-in-the-service-syndrome.

EARLY SYMPTOMS: There are early symptoms which usually proceed along the following lines. The congregation is introduced to this disease as a way of being friendly to the visitors that are in your assembly. Everyone is asked to stand and circulate amongst those attending and greet one another. This is usually followed by a series of Sundays in which everyone is much more friendly than before.

This new development worked so well that it has been incorporated into the general procedures of the morning, and maybe even the evening services.

As the disease progresses however, the congregation begins to realize that they are saying hello to the visitors twice. This is somewhat cumbersome after awhile; after all, just how friendly must I be? Besides, how do you say hello twice within fifteen minutes and not sound repetitious? Many will decide, "Well I won't say hello when I enter the service unless I am very close by, then when the correct time for it comes I can be very friendly."

There is no doubt that the best of intentions were in mind when the carrier introduced the disease into the congregation, but the effects never the less continue to erode the friendliness of the church.

LATER SYMPTOMS: The next step in the progress of the disease in the congregation is that there are very few that introduce themselves or even say hello to the visitors, that is, until it is scheduled in the bulletin.

The final symptom even though there have not been any churches that have progressed this far, might well be terminal. Yes, a dead church could well develop. If the outsider does not feel comfortable they will not return, and this will mean little growth, and finally a church that exists for itself.

This report is not written in criticism of this practice for the author has seen it to be very effective in bringing about friendliness among a not so friendly congregation, however be forewarned of the POSSIBLE final outcome that is observable in church after church today.

PROGNOSIS: The infected congregation can most assuredly be cured of this disease by mearly realizing that it exists and that they need to be aware of the symptoms. As they see the symptoms creeping up on them they need to combat that symptom by introducing themselves to the visitor that they have just passed by.

Be it known that it is quite uncomfortable to be a visitor and be totally ignored in a church until the pastor or songleader tells everyone to stand and greet the visitors. Have you ever been approached on three or four sides by 150 people all with their hands out. Yes, the greetings are appreciated yet there is a certain air of insincerity, even if they are very sincere in truth, when the greetings of a church are in response to the pastor telling them this is the time to make the visitors feel welcome.

There is a new variation on the disease which has developed and it can make the visitor even more uncomfortable. There is a growing desire to be sure and identify the visitors for the membership, so there are some churches that ask the congregation to stand, but for the visitors to remain seated. Now you have all those hands coming DOWN at you from above.

Upon the second visit to a church that had practiced the aforementioned, the guest felt that this time he could stand with the rest of the congregation because he was not really a first time visitor. The song leader was way ahead of the guest and when the time came, he announced that only CHURCH MEMBERS were to stand, and that they should greet the visitors.

CURE: The obvious cure to this situation is to refrain from making the GREETING OF VISITORS a normal occurrence of the services. If the congregation does not know when this will occur they will not be so apt to refrain from greeting the visitors on their own.

Realize that unfriendliness is a problem of the spiritual life and not an item that you can demand from your congregation. The key is not forced friendliness, but a spiritual atmosphere in the church which brings the people to be the type of believers that they ought to be - friendly and concerned about visitors AS WELL AS ONE ANOTHER.

Many churches use official greeters at the back of the auditorium, or in the foyer to great effect. They introduce themselves to new visitors and begin introducing them around as they are ushered into their seats. A mini-tour of the church or a printed map might be appreciated.

The congregation needs to be encouraged to greet visitors and one another upon their first encounter, and not wait until that SPECIAL TIME in the service.

A greeting during the service is very nice at times if only a few of the people surrounding the new folks turn and introduce themselves, however after five or six rounds of "There's a Welcome Here" and sixty handshakes, a visitor may well wonder if they want to return to the same next Sunday!

As in almost all of church activity we as believers overreact to a new thing. If it works once then it will work well in every service for the next three years. Not necessarily so.

In our own congregations why don't we evaluate our use or non-use of a special greeting time for visitors. Perhaps there are variations that might be tried to make the time more meaningful to new folks.

In a small church where we visited several years ago I was impressed during the LET'S GREET EVERYONE TIME at how many people were very interested in our name and our occupation. After everyone sat down, the pastor proceeded to call on different ones in the congregation to report on who they had met, where they were from and what they did for a living. This was a personable time, and it was an introduction of the visitor to the entire congregation. There was a sincerity in the time that could well be developed into a useful ministry within the church services. It could even be used without the LET'S DECEND ON THE VISITORS MOMENT!

In a day when church leaders are interested in church growth and the expansion of the work we may have a very unsuspecting item in our worship services that is actually working against that which it is designed to foster.

May we be very sure that we are honest, sincere and caring in our greeting of others in our churches!

May we assure that our greetings are not grating the nerves and feelings of those we seek to minister to!

We offer these thoughts as a positive "FOOD FOR THOUGHT" because we have been in a number of churches where the only "friendliness" is during the "WELCOME THE VISITORS" time. We would be quick to add that there are many churches that use this greeting time to great advantage, but they are also very outgoing with their visitors before and after the services as well.