tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110197701822420036.post1380162893629247843..comments2024-03-28T04:42:52.156-05:00Comments on Dancing with the Word: A View From the Other Side of the Pulpit: The Price of WelcomingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110197701822420036.post-42750283422714575382012-09-18T11:50:52.655-05:002012-09-18T11:50:52.655-05:00Thank you for this insight! As a pastor of a grow...Thank you for this insight! As a pastor of a growing, young congregation, this is something I definitely needed to hear! So often we forget that being welcoming is something we should do for everyone we know - whether it be a new friend or congregant, our children, our spouse, an old friend...everyone needs to feel welcome.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110197701822420036.post-60480447019789246582012-09-17T10:17:43.805-05:002012-09-17T10:17:43.805-05:00I wonder if a person's ability to accept growt...I wonder if a person's ability to accept growth (and all its ramifications as you described) is based somewhat on the person's own security and confidence. Perhaps, for example, if you'd been going to that class for the last 10 years (instead of what, the last 2-3?) it wouldn't have been as big a deal to see the room from a new perspective - as you would have been more familiar with every part of the room. I can see myself - being really uncomfortable with public exercise (feel free to extrapolate this example to public faith, or whatever) - upon finding someone else's mat in my normal spot, wanting to turn around and head back out the door. Because that spot for my mat was the only comfortable place in the room (that I knew of) where I could bring myself to do this unusual thing. <br /><br />In a similar vein - I think welcoming is hard when it's new. If your class had had new participants each week - or even if participants came in and out from the beginning, you maybe never would have gotten "used to" that one spot for your mat. New people and new configurations would have been part of the "normal." Instead - when we are comfortable with the same old crowd and the same old seat/mat/pew and the same old routine - even a single new person can throw everything off - let alone a time of significant growth!<br /><br />So, how can we make long- and medium-timers comfortable and confident enough that they are flexible and welcoming to newcomers? And how can we work to bring in a string of newcomers often enough so that it's not some odd occasion that we don't really know how to handle?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04256070159179905872noreply@blogger.com