Thanks for printing this.  I just returned from an evanglism forum meeting where we talked about this very thing.  You know, if we reasserters grow our churches and the rest of TEC doesn’t, I wonder what would happen?

I realize that people are craving community and that a warm welcome with attentive follow-up can go a long way to cementing the visitor to a parish, but there’s something that bothers me about this welcoming strategy.  It’s hard to pin down, but I think it’s the overemphasized focus on the community instead of on Jesus Christ.  It comes across as “it’s all about us” and it plays on people’s desire to belong.  While parishes should be welcoming, I think visitors should be given some space in order to enter into the contemplative dimension before they are ushered into “doing”.  Afterall, it’s about receiving Jesus Christ.

I recently joined a church that expects to grow. After my first visit, I received a hand written note from the rector. Everything is designed to be user friendly, printed service, power point, singable music, meaningful preaching, etc. It is not like the church of my youth but it gets 2 or 3 new families every week.