When you think of your home congregation, what are some words you would use to describe it? Active, warm, loving, sincere, giving, evangelistic or cold, dead, apathetic, stuck in a rut, cliquish. Part of how your home congregation can be described is directly related to your role in that same congregation. If you are consistently warm and friendly, the congregation is warm and friendly because you help make up the church. If you keep to yourself or just go through the motions, the congregation does, too, because you help make up the church! You definitely have an effect on the Lord’s church. How the church is seen in your community depends on what you do or don’t do every time you meet with the saints. God can use your efforts to grow His kingdom!
One easy way to make sure you’re doing your part to make the church warm and loving is to be a greeter. Smile and speak to all who come. Have you ever visited a congregation and left shaking your head because no one spoke to you? That should never be said of the Lord’s church! “Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you” (Romans 16:16). “And If you greet your brethren only, what do you do more them others? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:47).
“Greet” appears 59 times in the New Testament. It means “to welcome” and also means “to respect, to be happy about, to embrace.” What an impact we could make if we greeted everyone who comes into the assemblies in that way, visitors and members alike! The way we behave toward people indicates what we really believe about God.
via Findlay church of Christ
Sparta, TN