I AM A VISITOR

I AM A VISITOR

WON'T YOU PLEASE:

...Smile at me as I walk in the door. You are my first impression of the church and this first impression will probably stay with me a long time.

....Help me find my place in the service. I will not find your help an intrusion, in face, I will remember your kindness.

...Notice me -even if I am not a "family". I don't want to feel invisible just because I am unmarried, single parent, a teenager, or an older person.

...Show me to coffee hour and introduce me to others there. I know you want to see your friends and settle that piece of committee business, but I may find it hard to believe that you truly care for each other unless I first see evidence that you care for the "stranger in your midst."

...Tell me good things about your church and your ministers. I want to believe that I have come  to a place where people love each other and where they believe that they are doing something exciting and important for the Lord.

...Talk to me again the second week when I come back, and the third and the forth. I may still not be a part of your congregational family.

..Invite me to become part of  your church activities. I need more than worship on Sunday. I needs to know that I am accepted and affirmed by a group of people within the church who know me by my first name and who care about me as an individual.

...If you can find it in your heart to do these things for me, I will come back....may be forever. I will become an involved member of your church and , in so doing, I will find my own life immeasurably enriched as a result of having become a member of your church.

(This article requested and sent from the Barbee Memorial Presbyterial Church, Excelsior Springs, Mo.)