How welcome I feel on my first visit might very well determine whether I will return for a second time.

However, no matter how I am welcomed, I will no stay long if I do not experience the love of God in the worship and activities of a congregation. 

Good question, Seeler.

I think welcome applies to so many items, incluidng work, family and church.

If people are welcomed they are more likely to build relationships, and through those relationships we are likely desiring to do more.

I am sorry about your experience at the one church 

I've already decided that I won't go back this summer when again my church is pairing with them for the summer months.  I'll probably visit around the other UCC congregations in the city and area - if I'm not doing pulpit supply somewhere.

Hi seeler,

A lazy question (lazier than coming in and finding out right?  )

[quote=anonymous}

We are a very welcoming Church.

[/quote]

A lazy answer to the lazy question.

The claim "We are a welcoming Church" is code and what it means is essentially this, "I'm happy with it. and nothing will be changing anytime soon."

Scratch the surface and what you find more often than not is the following:

I don't know who that is but they at least, know my name.

Nobody sits in my pew.

I know when to sit or stand during the liturgy.

People don't ask me for money but they have money for me and what ever I'm fund raising for.

The srvice always ends when it is supposed to and it always starts when it is supposed to.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Seeler, I would have felt comfortable in the fist situation and uncomfortable in the second. I like the simple gesture and point of connection and shy away from dog and pony shows of attentiveness. Different strokes etc. ..

If you come to my church's building on a typical Sunday, you will be greeted by at least our Greeter, and our Pastor. Quite often you will be greeted by others as well who may include the Pastor's wife, our Youth Pastor, and one of our Deacons. As we don't use bulletins, you won't need to worry about receiving one. The coffee will be hot, and self-served in the basement. If you choose to enjoy a cup, you are welcome to drink it in the worship space. As you wait for the service to begin, you can listen to the Worship Team warm up, watch something on our powerpoint screen, or read one of the magazines, Bibles, or tracts available. More than likely at least one of our friendly church regulars will greet you as well as we love meeting new people. So, yeah, I would say absolutely that we are a welcoming church.

Unless you're a lowly and dispised sinner from poor connections ... it is the noble truth ... and you can't tell the noble truth any different ... they believe nothing below them ... real flotsam ... floaters?

One does need some Christian Grounding to get their NOS esse in the mire ... and see how chitty they really are ... as exiled Roman Scat ... the chit of wisdom ... sacred stuff in many edifyed institutions that move, never! This is a stuck spirit ... like Buddha discovered at the foot of the tree of Levite nature ... Christ's sole in a Pagan observation ... the foot of the cross? Is that Ire of what? Maddened by naive insolance ...

Again from a NB nobody ... neva -never ignore the lesser lands ... or you'll go La-La too ...

You know the Jah Jah Girls? Sometimes spelt Yah-Yah ... the Hebrew lady goes Nada-Nada ... and you'd be surprised what's behind that expression ... it broke down in history as Na-Trium ... an upstanding pillar of old salt ... with a cloudy understanding on wisdom to the objective pilla. Sometimes this is referred to as the unclear understanding of the Madgi ... or the Madgellan Wholly Entity as drole dahl ... a broad-minded Bust of the cow that jumped over de muon ... cos-mol-LOGOS ... the ethereal out-there ...

Remeber what goes up ... comes back at yah eventually ... sort of an eternal truth ... the time is indefinite ... but you can bet it'll hit yah like a slap on the phore head ... my god mortals are vacant ... raptured?

Collectively that is ...

Individually some of th-eM are really odd ... some are exceptionalin either way accomodating ARM's observation that you can't make something out of nothing without virtual opposition ... thus rare thoughts in an emotional mote ... consider it a phalla-"c" or Stardust ... accidental ...occidental? sets us outlanders into fetishes of giggles like people washing out fêtè ...

One must make the final leg of the pilgrimage with a clean sole ... a good Shue?

Then shu'sh ... you're out of Eire like stuff in the water cloes-ET (WC?)  flushed as Eros ... and thus the UCC washed their hands of wee questioners and knockers upon the tree ...BUST outs, as Janus? You do see a lot of titters about in the Roman statutes ... odd laws many ovem .. especially when trying to control LOGOS ...

In this franc regard ... follow and observe ... understand what's ahead in complex hermeneutics ... don't lead something you don't understand in blind fêtè ... fate?

Probably what we should be asking is how many new families or individuals have started to come to any particular church in the past year or five years and then find out why they stayed.

That might give some insight as to what makes people happy when they attend a church gathering. Personally, though, I've never been overly concerned with numbers. What's important is for churches is that they be preaching, teaching, and living out the good news of God's Kingdom, rather than being preoccupied with putting more bums on pews.

Jae, I wasn't suggesting this because of needing to count "bums on the pews" , but rather what is the reason that people are coming.

Right, but the thing is, waterfall, a church might see lots of people gathering together in it, but they not be coming for the right reasons. Any church is always at risk of doing things unbiblically in order to draw in more folks. Just because a church is popular doesn't mean that whatever it's doing to build a large group of people should be copied. 

I agree, but unfortunately we can not determine the level of someones faith, can we? Only God knows what's in our heart. Really all we can determine is what will bring them closer to even hear God's word.

I would think that the reason we would like to have people come and feel welcome and want to come back is that we have something to offer them that will enrich their lives

Because I usually come early for a Bible discussion group, and enter by the side door, I wasn't aware that six months or so ago there was a man who would stand in front of our church on Sunday mornings, holding up a Bible, intercepting people approaching our door and telling them about the evangical 'Christian' church that had recently opened on the next block.

Apparently he did this for a few weeks, and then disappeared.  Recently he was seen in our church coming forward and taking communion.

I don't know 'the rest of the story'.

Do people come to church to know all things as a broad-based psyche? N Frye called this "defocusing" ... a wider view! Such is beyond the point of small pupils in learning and immense wisdom! Some say god is great ... others try and box eiM up and pede eL that in mortal (limited) form! Can they not get beyond themselves? I find this a gae, odd, phunnei observation that the pious wouldn't like like a'sexual birth control that appears to be natural when we outgrow our breaches ... RIFTS in wisdom?

Perhaps they come to church to purchase allowances (dispensations) for doing things wrong. This happens if you didn't noticce the trouble caused by evil brutes the first time around. Consider the legendary Roman Perspective of we're doing this to the people, for the people, as we wish to do it ... and thus "the people" was screwed (cranked) because the oligarches wished it so ... and the peoples were stupified! Is this un-wizened, or an un-wise ND'? This could be expanded into a NDE on a fringe basis of the borderline or threshold (dagon; deis gone) of awarenss is out--there!

Thus the night shall fall and you won't know nut'n anymore (tis a strange Icon, or Semite) a gift of the media of sol' leaving you, as departed, if you don't get a grip on your thoughts from the past that are in that tense ... "thunk" in the abyss of the mind ... a psyche fear to many ... as de pitz or Nus as indicated in the Greek letter "v" ... often mistaken for gamma by careless translaters ... one has to learn to be recognizant of errors and Eire ... especially the human Eire that has a PEW bote IT as if it died ... perhaps just gang green US in their wraught'n thoughts ...

Vert ego'sis while the ID is flat out in subtle S'laughter ... sort of demonished in form so as to stay subtle in the line of sight ... a visionary bent? This is notable when observing a troll line as it enters de water, or wadi (as catenary form) ... all held in sacred code as the nobler ones believed we shouldn't know ...

Then they too forgot the understanding of hieros gamma ... and all were in de aD ark .. and they thought it was a Null'ed ... thought that is ... but little did they know about the outlanders! To them such is a foreign dimension to operate in with dip loama  Tick thought ... that strikes EU like a slap in the forehead sort of impulse ... bo soma's park ... like a swamp to begin with ... or perhaps an Arid region if allotted to much gonadic nature ...

Are there mediums? It is difficult to say when caught in the middle of a soulful, edifice of spirit ... you wouldn't want to abmid such thigs and thus the door is closet on that subject ... even tho' there are many doors ... sort of like holes in the abstract of heaven! Something stored in unseen dimensions ...

Causes wee satyrs to chimerii like co-pure-plate impressions ... impressed LOGOS? Close to abstract wisdom!

I believe that more than half of the visitors we have had in the past 20 months other than Christmas Eve and Spirtuals Sunday are still attending our church, and two of them are on our board now.  Several are clear that an important part of staying for them was how welcoming we are.