THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN A CHURCH

Who is the most important person in a church? Is it the minister? The treasurer? The secretary? The person who leads the children's and young peoples work? The director of music or the organist?

No!  I believe that a good case can be made that the most important person in the church is the person who stands on the church door and welcomes people as they arrive. The person who makes a newcomer feel welcome and shows them where to sit. Who gives the church attender a book and anything else that they will need for the service and who will show visitors where the toilets are located. They will also introduce a new family to the person who works with the young people. They may introduce a single visitor to another person already in the church so that they do not have to sit on their own.

These wonderful people set the tone of a church and can be the factor that determines if a person feels good and comfortable when they settle down into their seat or if they feel strange, isolated and alone. They can make a new person feel at home. Such hospitality is a God given gift.

The greeter will have got to the church early to have the books and papers ready on the door before the first person arrives.  They will stay by the door as the service starts to welcome anyone who arrives a little late and they will be available if anyone wants to leave early. If someone is leaving early they will check if they are all right but will not intrude on their privacy.

The members of a welcome team will develop a sensitive way of getting peoples contact details so that they can be visited and invited to further events. They will also pass on contact details to whoever co-ordinates the church visiting and/or the minister.

When the greeter is not on door duty they will still keep a look out for people that they have welcomed when they were on the door so that they can show that they remember them and reinforce the church's welcome.

These people are perhaps the most important people in the church. They set the tone and mood of the people attending and help with church growth by making the church a welcoming place from the moment people come in the door. And if we think of the reverse of all this we can easily imagine what damage having the wrong person on the door can do!