I was sitting at the Contemporary service and I saw some new people who were sitting in the near front row. That's weird. You, the person reading this, probably don’t sit in the front row. The front row is rarely the place people want to sit. Sure there are some exceptions, but for new visitors to our congregation it is almost never the place that they find themselves. 

 

When people first come to visit they sit in the back, or the balcony. They tend to slide in and slide out and aren’t trying to make waves or sit in someone else's seat. So, when I saw these newbies sitting in the front row it caught my eye. What I learned was that some regular members of our congregation had invited these seekers to come sit with them. These members sat near the front, and voila mystery solved. 

 

But more than a mystery was solved. There are lots of problems for new people when they come to visit. The least of which is where. They don’t know when they should stand, or sit, or kneel. There is some research that the sharing of the peace (that time in the service when we shake hands and say “peace be with you”) is traumatic for visitors. What tends to happen is we, who are comfortable and have friends in the congregation, have many people to greet and share the peace. But those who are new don’t. They just, kinda, stand there, keenly aware that they aren’t being welcomed. Everyone else seems to be effortlessly connecting with each other while the guest awkwardly waits to stop sticking out like a sore thumb. 

 

That is not what I saw at our church. Members took it upon themselves to invite these visitors to sit with them. They shared the peace with them. I know because I shared the peace with them, because they weren’t hiding in the back. They were in the mix. So, what could have been the most awkward event for the guest became a connecting event. They were not left out, they were included. 

 

This is the individual effort that gives the Holy Spirit reason to continue to send us people. Churches die for one reason: they stop serving the Holy Spirit. They forget that Jesus has a task and they want Church to be something for themselves. If that happens just lock the door already, the end is neigh.

 

We are alive in Christ. We are inviting and giving of ourselves to share the good news. This happens when any of us do our part. Instead of saying “hey, there’s a whole staff of people I don’t need to do anything” a couple members of our church said “let me do this.” “Let me invite these visitors to sit next to me.” Such a small gesture with huge implications. 

 

I am proud to be a part of a congregation that takes the mission so seriously. That knows the work of the Church is all of our responsibility. I hope that you get a chance to invite a person to sit with you in service, maybe someone you invited, or maybe someone that you met at the door some Sunday. And when you do I hope that you see that you are sharing Christ by welcoming in the visitor. By not expecting that someone else will do the job, you have answered the call to build the Kingdom of God. And for that we get to see the Holy Spirit continue to move through us.