WELCOMING OTHERS TO THE FAMILY!

Recently I read a statement that relates to many churches. The statement read like this: "Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited...until you try to sit in their pew." Obviously this is an overexaggeration for most churches, but there is a hint of truth. How many of us on a given Sunday go out of our way to make new people (guests) feel at home and welcome in our church family?
At First Baptist Marion, we average well over 50 guests every Sunday. When guests come to FBC they often have questions in their minds like a person visiting a store for the first time. Truly many of them are "church shoppers." They are asking these kind of questions:

* Am I needed?
* Can I make friends here?
* Where do I fit in?
* Is this worth the effort of my time?
* Are these people real?
* Can my life really change?

I am more and more convinced that before Sunday guests will buy into or believe our Sunday message of salvation or even become interested in one of our many ministries, they must first buy into our people. This means YOU! Every Sunday we need to extend our spiritual antennas to look for and minister to our guests. We need to be like Paul and his staff as they related to the people in Thessalonica when he said, "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you, not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us (1 Thess. 2:8)."

Before we can connect new people to Christ, our Sunday School classes, or even a ministry, we must first choose to intentionally connect ourselves to new people. I want you to make this your mission this week. Let's show new people the love of Jesus and that at FBC of Marion, we truly mean it when we say yourLIFEmatters!

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