Hello

Hi. Good morning.

I don't think I have met you before (hand extention and looking in your eyes). What is your name?

Mine is Carrie Ann.

Do you have questions or is there anything I can help you with?

Greetings.

Do you like to be greeted?

I do. I don't like to be accosted, just sincerely greeted.

I wish more people or, should I say greeters and attendees greeted this way at churches.

I am not a fan of walking in to have ten people give me a bulletin as with sales people at the mall. I am not a fan of the silent nod. And sorry, but the quiet hi and look away also does nothing for me.

I want to be greeted-

Looked in the eye and welcomed.

Please, offer not just a hi and bye, but a who are you and a I am glad you're here. Maybe, now that you are here, I can get to know you as a person instead of a participant.

You aren't just a participant.

You are a person.

I am a person.

I feel this is genuinely missing at most churches, so no finger pointing to any in particular. I have attended many.

I think in part it is just the concession mentality of this world trickling in with a bit of selfish distraction.

Next please...

I am not just a next. You are not a next.

Sometimes retail stores are better at welcoming than churches. Alas, they have a motive though, right?

Well, don't churches?

Isn't the motive to reach out to individuals and love them into the Kingdom for the Lord?

This motive should motivate.

No, there is no sales quota. There is no commission... Just souls.

Souls that are broken need to feel welcome so they can connect, learn, be loved, be healed and be transformed.

I have been and still tend to be one of these.

I want to be welcomed, known, and if possible, loved and even understood.

If I am a number, let me go to the deli.

I am not a number and at church, to truly eat there must be love not roast beef.

At church, I am not looking to be fed food. I am looking to be fed by the love of the Lord.

And to feed others.

Greeter or member, you are the vessel of that love, the love that nourishes. You hold it so it can be poured out upon those who come gather.

Feed me. Feed the attendees.

Feed the guests.

Start the dinner party.

The appetizer, dinner and dessert are all love.

Serve it up!