Programs

I saw this, and it made me laugh out loud because I've been there (but without the fancy technology). I've tried to organize people so that the church could welcome and greet new people. Spent a lot of time on it, actually, so I know what it's like to sit there and see someone new and think "Where is that greeter?!?!"

But what I also remember is what happened when I invited a friend to my last church. She went quite a few times over a couple months, but ended up leaving because no one but the greeter said hello to her. And that makes sense. Why would anyone else say hello to her? That's what the greeters are for!

The Greeter program was created to compensate for the congregation being unfriendly to new people. This is the origin of many church programs. For instance, Sunday School teaches kids about God because parents don't. There's a long list of church programs that are created to make up for Christians not doing what they are supposed to do.

But what I've noticed is that the problem doesn't go away. An unfriendly congregation remains unfriendly whether there are greeters or not. What worked best at my last church was simply going up to members, one-on-one, and coaching and encouraging them to seek out new people and welcome them. That's what worked there, and that's why we aren't going to have programs in The River.

Our focus is on building people, not programs. Helping individuals to be disciples- to be followers of Jesus Christ. And I think that if we have a community full of disciples, we won't have to worry about greeting visitors or caring for the sick or teaching children faith, because folks will just do it. Not so the church can survive, or so it can grow, or any of that stuff. They'll do it because it's who they are. They'll do it because they can't not do it. They'll do it because they love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and they love their neighbors as themselves.

That's the vision for a church without programs, and we'll see what happens. It's an idea which has gotten some pretty funny looks, but those looks quickly fade from my memory. The one that doesn't is the face of my friend who came and went because we built programs instead of people. That one is burned into my memory.

People, not progams.
That's what the church of Jesus Christ is all about.