We have had the privilege of meeting some pretty incredible people in our city through our journey of planting Northpoint. We've met CFO's of corporations, professors and administrators from the local university, students, people desperately looking for jobs, local business owners, hard working individuals at the coffee shops and restaurants that have become "regulars" for us, individuals just living their day to day lives, and pastors from local churches. There is a common thread that we have found with every single socio-group we have met and interacted with - they are hungry for connection. They are looking for other individuals that have a common denominator that is going to bridge the gap to building a relationship. That's no secret to any of us. We know this! Every time we log on to Facebook we are reminded that we live in a society that is hungry for connection. So, if we know this to be true, why aren't we focusing the majority of our efforts on building relationships?
One of the unique opportunities we have as church planters is the opportunity to build many new relationships in a short span of time. For all of the strategizing, dreaming and vision casting we will do over the next several months, building relationships will still be the number one priority for us. If people are walking through our doors on Sunday morning and leave feeling unnoticed and unimportant, we have failed them and missed our vision to connect to and serve our community. We must embrace the power that is present when people experience a personal touch from our churches.
One of the greatest misconceptions churches have is that connection happens naturally. We think because our church is full of friendly people, everyone who walks through our doors will instantly connect to us. It might be true that our churches are full of friendly people, but it's possible that the people walking through our doors get a very unfriendly experience. If you aren't channeling the friendliness of your people and teaching them to be very intentional with how they connect with someone walking through the doors, what you end up with is a lobby full of very "friendly" churchgoers who are laughing with each other and having a good time while the visitors walking through your door feel lost, unnoticed and often times as if they are intruding.
We are very intentional about strategically placing our volunteers in areas where they are going to thrive and where they are going to have the opportunity to connect with people. If you are a guest at Northpoint, you will encounter at least 5 greeters before entering the worship center. We have placed men in our parking lot who are friendly and very aware of identifying a new family. They are quick to direct them towards a parking space and give a friendly hello. We are discovering that people are noticing our volunteers in the parking lot as they drive by our church. One couple recently mentioned that they wanted to come to our church, but were not sure if there were people at our church "their age" (they are in their 50's.) As they drove up they saw a parking lot greeter that was "bald" and in his 60's. They shared that they instantly felt comfortable to come to our church because they saw someone like them greeting in the parking lot.
To balance and highlight the diversity that we are experiencing at Northpoint, you will find greeters representing varying age groups and ethnicities. They know that their job is important. We tell them on a continual basis that what they are doing is vital to the ministry of Northpoint. We send them letters of appreciation and let them know that we can't accomplish our vision on Sunday mornings without them.
We also encourage the core families in our churches to identify new families that have come to Northpoint at least twice, and take the initiative to invite them to lunch after the morning experience. We want every new family to feel a connection, but we also recognize that it takes a team of people working together to make sure no one falls through the cracks, so we encourage our leadership to help us out and bridge the gap in connecting people to Northpoint.
Pastors, we cannot lose the vision and dream of connecting with people. We must lead the way by example and passionately encourage our team of volunteers to jump on board with us. Our volunteers receive our encouragement, hear stories of new families that are connecting and see the excitement in people's faces as they leave feeling noticed and connected. We cannot afford to be complacent and check in to maintenance mode. We must constantly be working to connect people together. Every new family that walks through the doors of our churches is searching for something. We can't let them walk out our doors without knowing their names! Be intentional about creating an atmosphere of personal touches and watch the excitement build as your volunteers embrace the reality that they are touching lives through a simple hello and a warm handshake!
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