Posted on 11/11/2014 9:44:11 AM PST by fkabuckeyesrule
i am not thrilled about meet and greet. i think if you/can smile and say hi without touching/shaking hands - just out of hygiene issues, a head nod with a “hi” - i’d like it better. if people have friends there and want physical touch they’ll do it after or before service.
very interesting bit of info. Marketing study or no, what the congregation thinks of the church and service has everything to do with the church and service, Jesus Himself had some fairly judgmental moments about Pharisees and others in his parables.
I think the only thing they would get is scotch tape.
Our church does that. It is supposed to be freely given, not a peer pressure issue. No passing of the plate, an offering box at the back of the church.
BFL
Maybe I will go to hell for this, but holding hands with those beside you during the Lord’s prayer in Catholic church creeps me out. I don’t really mind the meet and greet.
>>Having a stand up and greet one another time in the worship service<<
I dunno about other denominations, but in the Anglican church when folks greet you and shake your hand after common prayer, it is a sign of forgiveness. A symbol of our Lord’s command to forgive and wish peace upon that person.
You will shake someones hand in the Anglican church and will often hear someone say to you, “Peace be with you or God’s peace”.
I read up to response #88 and decided that for the most part the responses were whiney. Good Lord, excuse the pun, grow a pair and think about why people attend praise and worship services.
True, it may not be for you ... but one day it may.
Church is not a rest home for saints; Church is a hospital for sinners.
At my parish we don’t shake the hands in either the TLM or the Novus Ordo. The priest just says “the peace of the Lord be with you” and we say “and with your spirit”. Then we move on to the next part. No shaking hands at all.
These comments are very similar to the story of a priest and associate assigned to a “dead” parish and how they brought it bacvk to life. “Rebuilt” is the name of the book.
Our pastor greets us with a handshake as we leave the sanctuary. I worry about him getting sick. He seems to get along well, and without more colds than the average person.
I always hated the sharing of the germs at other churches,and one reason I like my new (2 years now) church is there was not that awful pressure to shake hands with everyone during the service. We do so much fellowshipping before and after the service, I find it stupid on a few levels to do that during the service.
Cheers
True. Who knows what a simple greeting/handshake means to someone? That may be the only Jesus someone might see. I love greeting people.
Now for the reality of the offering, and every complaint about the treatment of visitors.My wife and I have been church shopping since we moved here 5 months ago. No complaints about greetings," just an expected thing, and people are nice. But as a church growth consultant told our church some years back, in reality you have no visitors in your church. Because, in the first instance, it is - or had better be - the Lords church. Not yours, the Lords. Your congregation has stewardship over the building, and the pastor is hired to preach the Word, etc - but it is the Lords, or it is a fraud. So where do you get off thinking of anyone else as a visitor?"
The church we attended last, and the church we are gravitating to now, both have this thing of saying that if you are a visitor, dont feel obligated to give an offering; your presence is enough. But the Christian is supposed to contribute regularly and significantly. So where does a church get off telling me otherwise??? Not that I act in accordance with that unBiblical teaching, but Sheesh!
I told the church we attended previously, and they seemed to have taken my point. I had a chance to vent about it to the local church here Sunday, and well see if it has any effect. They talk, before the offering, about the ministries they are performing. That is the advertisement I need to feel assured that when I put a check in the plate I am worshiping God. Not the building, and not the pastor.
The first two are mutually exclusive, so I would discount them. The church is damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Beyond that, it sounds like the upper room, Lydia’s house, and the Philippian jail wouldn’t be acceptable places.
If Jesus was at the First Street inner city mission, these folks wouldn’t return because of an unkempt nursery.
Yes, that is the original reason I quit going to the Vatican II Mass (had only been to it a handful of times, averaging once/decade). Since then, I discovered many others reasons to prefer the Tridentine Mass (see profile page and other trad sources).
Well to me it would drive me away from organized religion permanently, if that were the only option.
You evidently don't realize how the universe of introverted/asociable people react to such a thing.
Not on the list: “Church not founded by Jesus Christ.”
At the time, I was struggling just to make rent; as a church "newbie", I didn't think what I put in the offering was a priority at that point.
However, a church leader went out of her way to hand me an envelope. Quite embarrassed, I had 26 cents in my pocket, and surreptitiously slipped it into the envelope, sealed it, and handed it back to her.
She promptly asked how much I put in.
I never went back.
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