I hope you had a blessed Lord's Day with God's people this past Sunday. And I hope that there were many among you whose faces you had never seen before.
If so, do you still remember what those faces look like?
If there was a line-up made for you (just like the police do it...on TV, anyway) with five total strangers and one first-time visitor from last weekend, would you be able to pick out the visitor? If you introduced yourself and got one of their names, do you still remember it today? Would you be able to tell someone how many visitors there were in total?
Now, these questions aren't entirely fair. After all, there are many people in and out of the building every week, and not all of our brains still run at the clip they used to. It's hard just to keep up with the people we know, let alone all the new faces.
However, we are called to do both. We are called to care for those we know while also getting to know new people. "Make new friends, but keep the old," the song says. Scripture says it better: "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself."
If any fellowship is to grow, it must remain as important as ever to maintain a posture of welcoming toward newcomers. We must demand of ourselves to want to get to know them, serve them, and remove any hindrances that would keep them from coming to the Lord. Let's have a heart of genuine interest for all.
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