Hello forgiven;
When I was in the second grade a classmate shared how going to a Church Service is like one Big Prayer. As an adult I still remember hearing this and have to say this was an interesting perspective coming from a 7 year old child.
Welcoming a first time visitor is HUGE in the Church. We always emphasized that. At the end of service before the Benediction the praise team would lead a song and I always went back and forth in the pews and shook everyone's hand. When I shared the pulpit I encouraged the preacher to do the same.
It was very effective. Many people come to Church with personal stuff going on in their lives and need to receive the Love of Christ, encouragement, a hug or even a handshake. The Church family cares.
God bless you, Jerry.
Very much like what we did.
We had "Greeters" at the door. When they recognized a visitor, they politely asked their name. Now I had already been given their name so after the choir special I would acknowledge the names of the visitors, and where they were sitting. The we would sing a "fellowship" son and invite the whole church to go over and say welcome or just wave at them.
At the end I would do the same thing and remind the whole church to speak to our special guests before leaving.
Now, if they were "LOCAL", one of our deacon invited that family to lunch on the church. Sometimes it got a little costly when we would have 8 0r 10, but the returns were off the wall.
It made people feel special and wanted!