Musings from a Worship Newcomer

During my sabbatical I've had the chance to worship with several congregations other than our own. I'll be with five more before the leave is over. I'm enjoying them all, but I'm remembering just how hard it is to go to a worship service as a complete stranger. And in the last several weeks I've attended churches that do pretty well in the ministry of hospitality.

It's hell-on-wheels for a first time visitor; particularly people like me who lean introverted. The distance from your car to a safe seat might as well be the distance between New York and Los Angeles. It's an eternity going from the parking lot to the place of worship. On the one hand, as a newcomer, I hope that someone will welcome me and help me find my way to the right location. I pray to experience more than that lingering once-over you get from some church folks, just before the lean toward the person next to them (while still looking at you) as ask, "Who is that?!?" It's nice to get some level of attention or recognition. At the same time I cringe at being pounced on like the only person walking on to a used car lot. It's possible to be over-attentive to a new person, creating discomfort with choreographed hospitality.

Two things I realize as a guest in worship...First, many church folks put all their eggs in the wrong baskets in their hopes of attracting new people. We assume that the right music, the right worship style, the right preacher, the right technology, and the right innovation will seal the deal with a newcomer. In fact, the deal is already sealed before worship begins. It happens between the parking lot and the seats. Second, hospitality isn't about technique. It's about atmosphere. Either a church pulsates the desire to welcome people into the arms of a loving and saving God or it does not. Newcomers can smell an atmosphere, one way or another. In fact, they are the best gauge as to whether or not hospitality is present and/or genuine.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.