In this video, I shared an experience that I had with a church greeter / usher during a worship time at a conference. The experience impacted me deeply, even though it occurred in 1997.
(Feed Readers: you may need to click through to see the video).
Church Greeters and Ushers should notice people
The key point here is that some church greeters or ushers may alert for situations like the one described in the video.
Even if they are not comfortable offering to pray with people, they should be able to find someone on your church’s prayer ministry team to accomplish the same action.
Let me ask you this?
Do you think this is a good skill for greeters, or do you accomplish this same practice through other ways?
Do you think greeters and ushers should play this kind of role?
I invite your comments.
Ashley Boyd says
Hello Pastor Chris,
I’m a subscriber to your Church Greeter’s 101 training which has been a blessing to me. Thank you and may Adonai continue to bless you out of His abundant bounty!
I’m the Coordinator for the Greeters Ministry at New Life Outreach International Church, which involve hosting a reception and greeting first-time visitors after the morning service. We also have Door Keepers Ministry, who greet people entering the building, and also the Usher Ministry which involve seating people, collecting the tithes and offerings, and accounting.
I absoulutely believe that ushers and greeters should be ready at all times to pray for an individual that needs prayer. I consistently encourage our greeters to be ready to pray for people, or to speak an encouraging word or a word of wisdom to our first-time visitors as the Holy Spirit leads. We have found that people really appreciate us praying with them and praying for them. And it’s a joy when individuals prayed for come back and give a praise report of answered prayers.
It’s such a coincidence that this is your subject today, because my wife and I had an incident yesterday at Church that was very similar to your situation. An individual came out of the service as my wife and I were bringing in the refreshments for the Greeters Ministry reception. The person was obviously under stress and approached us, looking for a water fountain. Later we learned that the individual fell under heavy conviction, already being under severe stress, when our Pastor gave an invitation for anyone considering suicide to come to the alter. We walked the individual to the nearest fountain which was right next to the room where we host the reception. After drinking some water, the individual’s emotional state continued to worsen so we escorted the person to the reception room and after the individual shared some particulars with my wife and I, we begain to pray for the individual. Because this individual was under severe stress to the point of considering suicide, we summoned the help of a person on the pastoral staff and the pastoral staff member and my wife’s ministry to the individual was exactly what the individual needed. The individual left encouraged and was actually laughing with joy and thanksgiving as a result of the prayers, words of encouragement and personal testimonies shared that were relative to the individuals situation, and also suppling an immediate domestic need. This was the most severe and intense situation that I have ever experienced in the Greeters ministry and this is not the norm. However, we pray for and with people, more often than not in our Greeters ministry, even if it’s just a prayer of guidance, that Adonai will guide and plant them in the church body that He has ordained for them, being that many first-time visitor are in the church-seeking mode.
So in my opinion, praying for first-time visitors or anyone who needs prayer, is very appropriate and a vital part of this ministry. We should always be equipped to pray and/or share a word of encouragement. So when ever I am recruiting individuals for our Greeters Ministry, I let them know up front, of the expectation for them to be willing to minister to individuals through prayer and a word of encouragement.
Ashley Boyd
NLOI Greeters Ministry Coordinator
Richmond, VA
Patti says
Hi Pastor Chris,
I am Administrative Assistant to the Pastor that is over the Welcoming Ministries. I am not quite sure how to create training for Ushers and Greeters. We have an awesome group of Volunteers but we lack consistency. AND we have many that have been doing this for many, many years. I am wanting to create an atmosphere of hospitality like they have never seen before. I get your emails and am very excited about some of the tips and information provided, but do you have a training program already established for Greeters, Ushers and Guest Center volunteers? I have also ordered your book How to Welcome Church Visitors which I love. Thank you for all you do to equip us that have hearts to not let any fall through the cracks and never walk out the church doors without knowing they were welcomed.
Patti
Steve says
As Christians we should always be ready to pray with/for others. I would encourage anyone in the service if they noticed a need in another to listen to the Spirits voice and follow.
Robert Allen says
Our greeters, if on time, greet members and hand out bulletins. We are in a small church with approximately 100 members, yet I still worry if the greeters will spot a guest. Our ushers sit in the sanctuary and only act as offering collectors. I stay at the welcome center in case a guest does arrive. It would have to something very serious for a greeter at our church to pray for someone. I can see the need for training, as we have very few volunteers to be greeters.
Nicole says
Oh my gosh Pastor Chris! My mind is blown! I never thought about training my greeters to look for prayer opportunities!! Thank you for this video
-Nicole