Sunday, June 20, 2010
A Warm Welcome
Generally, I take little notice of church signs. One of the churches we work with, St Rollox, has a sign that reads “A warm welcome to all friends and visitors.” To be honest, I never noticed it until recently. An Iranian seeker told me the following story which changed my perspective:
I had been going a lot of places for help. They were nice, but nobody seemed to really care. Then I was walking by this church and I saw that they gave a warm welcome to visitors! How wonderful, I thought. So I came on Sunday to be a visitor. Yes, the welcome was warm and I knew the people cared about me!
It’s a credit to the church’s that they not only say they welcome all visitors, but that they actually do it. It was also a lesson that I should be less cynical – I used to assume that nobody took notice of things like that.
A “warm welcome” can mean so much and should not be underestimated as an integral part of our mission. This Iranian man now tells me that he wants to follow Jesus. A genuine welcome to our guests is a foretaste of the kingdom, the welcome we will receive from God.
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