Guests who visit our churches are basically following a “Walk ins Welcome” policy. Who are these folks? Might they leave horrified at what took place? Here are some helpful thoughts. Guests who walk in are in a process. This is a process that God began long before the day they walked in. Many don’t realize they are in a process. But knowing they are in a process affects our welcome. Jeremiah 10:23 explains, “Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.” In other words, in creating us, God designed us to not direct our own lives. We were meant to be directed and guided by God himself. This means that when Andrew walked into church with his wife and four kids, these walk- ins were welcome and even directed by God; but no one knew the process that Andrew was in. He had been struggling for years with a personal desire to surrender His life to Jesus Christ. Either he wasn’t ready, or he didn’t know how. But he was a work in progress, or in process. Would the church give him “a buzz” as my barber did me, or would the church encourage the process? Tricky stuff. A lady named Diane told me that when she visited another church, people looked through her or around her and never at her. After visiting five times, they moved on. The church’s job is to not mess up the process God is providing. Andrew and his family were embraced.
How do you encourage the process? We must provide a balance between giving direction and giving space. At the right moment, Andrew came forward at an altar call and he said the struggle within just stopped. He stated, “Christ came into my heart and it’s been awesome. No fight, no struggle.” He began our follow up plan. In a week he and his wife will be baptized. Wisdom says, give direction, or give space. And when it’s time to give direction, may God direct a follow up “process” that truly works, not one that scalps the seeker.