A friend of mine was asked by his conference president to go preach at a church that was between pastors. As my friend and his wife entered the church, the long-time greeter welcomed them. Then she said, "I just want to warn you, we do not have a pastor right now and so we have a guest speaker today. They're sometimes not very good preachers, but it's all we have!" she concluded, shrugging her shoulders. They thanked the greeter without revealing their identity, and moved from the lobby into the sanctuary.

In the sanctuary, a couple came over and greeted my friends and invited them to lunch after the church service. My friends accepted. It wasn't but a few minutes later when the same greeter came into the sanctuary to give everyone assembled their bulletins because the one who was supposed to have them early had just brought them late. As the greeter gave my friends their bulletins, she asked, "Did so-and-so invite you to lunch today?" My friends said, "Yes they did." "Good," said the greeter. "It's their responsibility this week and I was just making sure they were fulfilling their obligations!"

If you have greeters like this at your church doors, please, please, please, find another place for them where they cannot undo in a split-second the spiritual and relational blessing you've been preparing all week! Effective greeting only comes naturally for a few people. Most members need to be educated on what is appropriate and what is not. Some greeter training packages can be found on AdventSource's website.

To receive the bi-weekly [em]Innovation[/em] newsletter, send an e-mail to innovationewsletter-request@creativeministry.org, with the message "subscribe innovationewsletter" followed by the desired e-mail address.


Paul Richardson is Director for the Center of Creative Ministry and Reconnecting Ministries for the North American Division.