Visiting

Have you ever visited another church? Not one that you have been to before or that your family or friends attend. Maybe you are on vacation (that is a good reminder that we never take a vacation from being a Christian). Maybe you are just in a different town on Sunday and you are trying to carry out God’s call to assemble with the saints and worship God (Hebrews 10:26). It can be a scary thing. You go online and check them out to see if there is anything weird, but you never really know until you get there and participate. What would you want the people to do or say? What if you were looking for a church home or you were interested in this church thing but you had never been or it had been a long time since you had been?

Would you want people to be warm and welcoming? Would you want them to be friendly and kind? How would you feel if no one talked to you or sat with you or smiled at you? Everyone was too busy talking to their group to acknowledge you. The only acknowledgment you got was from the guy making the announcements who told you we are so glad our visitors came and they are our honored guests. Would you feel that way? Jesus teaches us to treat others the way we want to be treated in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:12). Our challenge is to look out for those we do not know or have not seen and reach out to them. I know you might not know everyone that attends, but when you make the mistake of talking to someone like they are a visitor, you now have the opportunity to have a new friend. What if this was your kid who just moved to a new area? Treat them like that. Talk to them. Smile at them. Take them out for lunch. Connect them with someone who lives near them or who they work with from the church. Why not see them all as Jesus (Matthew 25:40)?