Friendly Versus Welcoming

​Let’s face it.  Every church claims to be friendly.  I once heard someone say, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, “I have yet to visit the second friendliest church in town!”  He has a point.  Nearly every church I meet with would list friendliness as one of their strengths.
      I’m not going to debate whether or not every church is friendly.  However, even if that was true, being friendly isn’t good enough.  For one thing, many times when a church claims to be friendly what they really mean is that the people in the church are friendly to each other!  Visitors either go unnoticed or receive a perfunctory greeting from the designated greeter.
      Better than being a friendly church is being a welcoming church.  There are huge differences between the two:

• Friendly happens by chance. Welcoming happens intentionally.
• Friendly requires little effort or planning.  Welcoming requires a lot of effort and planning.
• Friendly is often focused on other members.  Welcoming focuses on guests.
• Friendly only focuses on what happens inside the church. Welcoming considers everything from the church website, to signage to the parking lot to the cleanliness of the facility.

      If you would like your church to be more welcoming, one of the best resources I can suggest is Thom Rainer’s little book, “Becoming a Welcoming Church.”  If any of you pastors don’t have it, let me know and I’ll get it for you (but only if you promise to read it!).
      Friendly is okay.  It’s certainly better than unfriendly.  But if you want to reach and keep guests, welcoming is infinitely better.