New year, new responsibilities

It is with a mixture of emotions that Robin and I face the new year as we take over responsibility for welcome care – we feel excited but we still have a lot to learn. Alan and Anne have done an excellent job for many years and are a hard act to follow.

We know that we are not doing it alone. It goes without saying that we do it with God’s help, but also with the support of the existing welcome care team.

However, welcoming isn’t restricted to the welcome care team. We would like everyone to see that they have a role to play in welcoming newcomers. It’s been said before that the hardest steps for a newcomer to make are from the forecourt gates to the church doors – that’s why we stand on the forecourt and greet visitors and have deacons and stewards on duty at the doors. But it doesn’t stop there. The welcome needs to continue inside and everyone can play a role here.

If you see someone sitting on their own, why not go and sit with them? If you don’t know the person sitting next to you, introduce yourself, find out about them, invite them to go through to the welcome area for coffee after the morning service, encourage them to fill in their details on the purple sheet, etc.

Many of us are members of Bromley Baptist because someone extended a welcome to us and visitors often say that they have been made to feel very welcome. Your saying hello to the stranger next to you could be the one thing that encourages them to come back. Conversely, some people have not returned because no one has spoken to them once they’ve entered the church building.

We hope that we can count on all of your support and would be pleased to hear if you have any ideas about how we can improve the way we do things.