Do We Really Want Visitors?

Before we ask how to welcome visitors, we first have to ask: do we actually want them?

If we are honest, the Sunday morning services at our meetings are designed to serve our own needs. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this. The edification and education of our own members, as well as the focus on breaking bread, are critical needs for all of us. It provides us with the weekly “booster shot” that we need to face the coming week. But what happens when someone unexpectedly shows up at our meeting? How effective are we at greeting them? Are we thoughtful about our messaging in classes and exhortations? Do the new guests see our enthusiasm for the Word, and a joy in our services?

You may have had the experience of bringing a friend to Meeting, following a long pathway to get them to decide to come. You wonder, what will the exhortation be about today? Will it be uplifting and give the sense of the Word? What will the adult Sunday School class be about? What hymns will we sing? How will other members welcome your friend? Most of us, in faith, determine to set these concerns aside, recognizing that our Lord is in control of the heart and circumstances. He will open the hearts of those who are sincere.

But it does raise the question about how “visitor-friendly” our meetings are. Could we be more thoughtful? Might we recognize a new visitor as a special opportunity? Do we really want visitors?

This question usually focuses on “how to.” How can we be more efficient and effective in welcoming non-Christadelphians at our actual meetings in our venues? These deliberations concentrate on the checklist of a nominated welcomer at the door. It ensures that the presider makes clear to any visiting speaker any sensitivities in the expected audience. The need follows to create a handout that explains our worship services and the practice of closed communion.

Do We Want Them?

But we need to take a step back and ask first: do we actually want to have visitors in the first place? Do we really want strangers entering our meetings? Do we want people “from the world” mixing with us? Do we really want to turn our worship and exhortations into occasions where any outsider would feel welcome?

A significant number of our ecclesias, when faced with this question, would have to admit that they do not genuinely want visitors and are unsure that they could adequately accommodate them. We typically hold our main Sunday meeting for our own family and children, rather than for people off the street. If they want to learn more about us, we will hold seminars where we will strive to create a welcoming and neutral environment that makes non-Christadelphians feel more at ease. We used to have weekly Bible talks that ecclesias could invite friends to, but sadly, these have largely disappeared over the past twenty-five years.

More on that option in a moment. But first, do we want them? Do we want outsiders? Do we want to grow by adding people who are not our relatives? This might seem like a question that shouldn’t need to be asked, but just for that reason, maybe it should be. Has it ever been on the agenda of our ecclesias to discuss this question?

A “Controlled” Entry Environment

Having public seminars is far better than doing nothing. The problem with seminars can be the disconnect from the reality of the ecclesia. We’ve all heard the true stories about Christadelphian ecclesias that ran successful Bible reading seminars, only to find that getting students to attend ecclesial meetings was nearly impossible. What could we invite them to? Sunday morning meeting may not have been viewed as a great option. Of the hundreds who attended Bible reading seminars in Southern California, only a few chose to accept our invitation to attend our meeting. We once heard a story about a woman who returned to the follow-up class with a cake to celebrate her baptism in a random church she’d found during the week, because she didn’t know Christadelphians performed baptisms or even accepted new members. A good seminar can also result in someone reaching the end of a course, expressing interest in baptism, then finding the Sunday meeting strange and possibly hostile when they first came.

First-century memorial services were meant to be welcoming and accessible preaching occasions… There will be some of us who feel that “Sunday morning is not the time to preach to visitors.” But that was evidently not Paul’s view

First-century memorial services were meant to be welcoming and accessible preaching occasions. Paul’s mention of what if an outsider enters (1 Corinthians 14:23-24) shows that the early churches were preaching at their main Sunday meeting. There will be some of us who feel that “Sunday morning is not the time to preach to visitors.” But that was evidently not Paul’s view. There may also be a benefit for those already baptized when Sunday speakers attempt to fulfill both roles—both doctrinal reinforcement and encouragement.

Are We Fit?

A mega-church in Southern California had a “unique” view about Sunday morning services. For them, the services were not for the “churched,” but for the “unchurched.” The church leaders carefully organized the reception of visitors, the content of the sermon, and the selection of music that a visitor could follow and sing. They specifically designed Sunday mornings for those who had not yet decided to follow Christ. The focus was on their needs, not their own members’. Sunday morning was a preaching campaign, and to be honest, it worked very well for them. The education of members does occur, but it is in mid-week Bible classes where members delve into more in-depth topics. Sunday was designed to be a service for the person seeking Jesus Christ.

To be clear, we are not suggesting that we fully adopt this strategy for our own meetings. But have our ecclesias given much thought to this issue? We are generally unprepared to receive a new visitor. We do the best we can. But is this good enough?

Recently, we have had some “show up” at Christadelphian meetings from the Unitarian Christian Alliance (UCA). They do this by standing invitation. We have told them that they are wanted, and we mean it. We are already aware of a handful of UCA baptisms that resulted from such drop-in visits. Many Christadelphian UCA members have recommended that they check us out. For most UCA members, we are the “big fish” in this smallish pond. This is an excellent opportunity to meet believers who are seeking a non-Trinitarian church, and the Christadelphians are at the top of that list. There will be some doctrinal points to sort out, but the relationship is based on one of the most essential doctrines we hold—the unity of God. Certainly, UCA members are not the only walk-ins. Visitors can pop in to our meetings for many reasons. Generally, we don’t know if they are coming in advance.

How do we tackle this question in our own ecclesia? If you have visitors, try to ask them for their impressions. How did they feel? What was hard to understand? What made them feel uncomfortable? It’s a valuable exercise to ask a work colleague or neighbor who attends their own church to visit ours just on one Sunday, to give us an honest review. This ask must be done without any expectation that we will try to convert them. We are asking them to serve as a third-party consultant. For better or worse, it’s a fact that many potential non-Christadelphian visitors will have already experienced other churches and will have certain expectations on matters we might not think of. It’s better to get a report card from a friendly neighbor before a visitor comes and is turned off by something that isn’t even on our radar. If we’re going to put them off, we want it to be because Bible teaching on a subject causes them to stumble, not because something in Christadelphian culture puts them off before they’ve even had a chance to hear the message.

While we are tempted at the end of this article to give a long list of ways we can be more welcoming, it is not a “one size fits all” consideration. Each ecclesia needs to consider what they want in this matter and what changes may be necessary. In the end, what can we do for the glory and honor of our Lord? How can we put visitors at ease, just as our Lord did so many times through His ministry?

Some ecclesias have a marquis outside that provides the dates and times of our meetings. How can we make that invitation come alive and communicate our sincerity in wanting them to come inside and join us in worship?

    

Dave Jennings,
Simi Hills Ecclesia, CA
and
Steven Cox,
Leicester Westleigh Ecclesia, UK