Do you remember the first time you were a visitor at Ascension? Did you walk in not knowing anybody? Did you encounter unfamiliar faces, practices, music, and traditions? What made you feel welcome? What brought you back?

Consider this – every Sunday could be someone’s first Sunday. At one time or another all of us have been visitors here – at some point we are all visitors somewhere, and how we experience welcome, comfort, and inclusion can significantly impact our decision to return or want to get more involved. For someone walking through the doors of Ascension, this may very well be the first time they’ve stepped into a church in years – or ever. It may have taken courage, hope, or even desperation to come. And what they experience when they arrive can speak louder than any sermon or song. 

Ascension is a congregation built on profound relationships with God and each other. I know this to be true, not simply because I’m one of your pastors, but because at one time I too was a visitor here. In fact, the very first time I visited Ascension it was with my family to see if this was a place I wanted to serve. And although I don’t recall the names or faces of the people we encountered that day, what I can tell you is that we felt a deep sense of welcome from the moment we walked in the door. I felt it then and I continue to feel it today – there is something special about Ascension. And what’s special about Ascension is YOU.

My friends, it doesn’t matter if you are a longtime member or someone who recently started to worship or serve with us, we are all called to be part of something greater – to participate and contribute as each of us are able – to be involved rather than stand on the sidelines as spectators – to be a family rather than an audience. We are called to share joys and concerns, successes and struggles, faith and doubt. And ultimately, our greatest coordinated efforts are to serve others in the name of Jesus rather than satisfy our own selfish wants and needs. These are marks of the body of Christ. This is what it means to be the family of God.

God invites all of us to welcome and walk alongside people to take part in what God is doing in and through us. Relationships don’t grow by accident and neither do churches. Signs, websites, social media posts, special events, and ministry programs all have their place but if openness and connection aren’t distinguishing marks of this congregation then we will never become the reflection of God’s kingdom we’ve been created to be.

When we are committed to being a reflection of Jesus’ radical welcome to our neighbors, coworkers, friends and more importantly to the strangers and onlookers with whom we cross paths, that spoken and often unspoken invitation is far more welcoming to visitors and newcomers than any fancy brochure, expensive advertising campaign, sermon, or song.

My ongoing prayer is that all of us would dedicate ourselves again to welcoming anyone who hears the Holy Spirit’s call to come into our doors on a Sunday morning or cross our path at other times. Here are a few easy ways you can be a glimpse of God’s love in action:

• Introduce yourself to someone you don’t know. If you forgot someone’s name ask.
• Try sitting in different places, staying longer or arriving earlier so you can meet different people.
• Invite a visitor or someone you don’t know to sit with you.
• Say hello to a few people you don’t know before spending time with the people you know well.
• If someone appears confused or lost take a moment to help them find their way.

So let us commit together to being an even more welcoming church than we already are, and not just in theory, but in practice. Let us pray for eyes to see the stranger, courage to start conversations, and hearts ready to listen. Let us invite, include, and involve our visitors. And if someone decides to return, not because of our building or programs, but because they felt seen and valued, then we’re being the church God calls us to be.

Pastor Tony