The Burden Is Not on the Newcomer

Not long ago I attended a fundraising event for a very worthy cause. I went at the invitation of some friends. The event took place in a town with which I was not familiar. The only publicity for the event said that it would take place in a public building in the community. No address was given, it was merely said to be at the "XYZ Building." Now, in this particular town, I have no doubt that 95% of the people interesting in attending this particular show knew where the "XYZ Building" was located. However, if anyone new to the community wanted to participate, nothing in printed or on-air community would have guided them to it. In my own case, without a GPS and the help of some locals, I would have driven all that way for nothing.

This is too often the case for the best of causes and organizations. We assume that, if someone wants to join us and participate, the burden is on them to locate us and get involved. Maybe that worked once in American culture overall. In any case, it doesn't work now. We live in a consumer culture. If people can't find something easily and get to it without trouble, they'll just invest themselves somewhere else. I think of my own world - that of organized churches. Many, many churches want new people to come to them, but they leave it to those same prospective folks to find out times, directions, and locations on their own. On the other hand, a few congregations assume the burden is on them to make it easy on the individuals who are most unfamiliar with them. They get out to invite people face-to-face, to pick them up and bring them as guests, to stay with the newcomers and explain to them the nuances of their congregation, and to do a debrief on how the experience was for them. Those churches who do not assume the burden is on the newcomer tend to be the ones that are growing, are changing lives, and are impacting their communities.

Do something welcoming for someone tomorrow. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.