A Welcoming Service

Last night, I took Mario Ascencio out for dinner and to discuss about his desire to "re-commit" his life to the Lord after a long standstill of his faith. We decided to go to Don Pablos, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Fairfax. It has been a long time since my family and I have gone there when we used to live in Fairfax. The service Don Pablos give to their customers have changed, big time!

As I approached the entrance of the restaurant, the lady was standing there greeting me. She said, "Welcome to Don Pablos! And I see you have your bible with you." I was like, "Wow! What kind of remark is that?" I don't get that all too often, especially at a restaurant! Then as Mario and I stepped into the restaurant, there were two hostesses standing by. They were smiling at us and "excitingly" welcomed us. Bam! Two welcomes in a row! As one of the hostesses lead us to our table, our waiter (and a training waiter) came to us immediately and welcomed us to the restaurant with smiles! A "Three-punch welcome" from Don Pablos. I was very impressed with the service they gave us. It was not like before! They seems to ante up their momentum of service toward their customers. I told Mario that I must share this with my Bloggers!! What a welcoming service!!

Churches all over the world ought to have that, "A Welcoming Service". From the moment your visitors approach the door (or even out in the parking lot), to the foyer then in the worship and classroom, they should receive the "three-punch welcome service" from the church. The Lord's church are to "invest hard work" into welcoming our visitors. Or they may never return to church again because we do not give them the impression they're looking for. We need to know why we're doing what we do or else we'll be defeated by disappointment. Often, I get a couple of comments from our visitors that Fairfax isn't a friendly and spiritual church. They may be right, in some ways, because we are very young in our faith and we're growing out of it. It's not always "us" but it's also "them" that needs work. I, often, use the "speck and plank line" Jesus used in Matthew 7. Most of the time, the problem lies within you, not the outside! Just a couple of "checkpoints" every church need to do:

1. Is everything done in a "fitting and orderly way"? (1 Corinthians 14:40)
I believe this verse implies that planning, evaluating, and improving our services is a proper thing to do. A minister cannot do this all on his own. He needs his members to do some work. Both the worship of God and the evangelizing of people deserve our best effort.

2. Do we know why we bother going through the pains of bridging the cultural gap between the church and unchurched?
We do it all for "Jesus' sake" (2 Corinthians 4:5)

Satan may throw darts of "self-pity" at you and me: why should "you" have to do all the set up and clean up? Most of the ministers do almost nothing while I have to do all of these things. Why can't I talk to my "best friend" and let the visitors worry about themselves? If they like it, "Good!" If not, well, sorry we can't be "your friend".

Well, I hope you are able to recognize that you're enjoying your "self-pity" party. But the Holy Spirit will, indeed, tap on your shoulder and say, "Who are you doing this for anyway??" What has Jesus done for you that you haven't done for them (visitors)? It is nothing compared to what Jesus had done for you and me! We need to break down the "self-pity" attitude and repent. We are to have the "other-centered" heart for those without Christ!

And the final question:

3. Are you serving the Lord Jesus Christ? (Colossians 3:23-24)
I am not saying that we "please people". No. We please God by putting our utmost attention on our visitors. We welcome them with open arms. When our visitors comes to worship with us, we ought to pray for them throughout the services and most importantly, we make ourselves known to them and get to know them. In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord, which he promised to his people.

With the example Don Pablos gave me, it surely made me want to come back and eat there again. I really appreciated their services and I saw great improvement in the "welcoming service". What about the Lord's church? Are we greeting our visitors with excitement, love or are we mingling around with the 'ole faithfuls' and having a good ole chat about whatever needs to be talked about and, at the same time, neglecting the "seeker sensitive people"? Save that conversation for a lunch appointment. Have a conversation with the "uncommitted"!

Let's be sensitive in the area of welcoming people to the Lord's church! If you're not, then seriously, you're making it difficult for His church to grow because of your influence and attitude! If you're grateful that you're with the Lord, then you'll want those who are "seeking" to have that same gratefulness! Amen? I hope so!!!