I heard about someone who had started attending our church and is casting about trying to “find her place”…..in need of discipleship and direction. I told the individual who was aware of this to give my number to this person and have her call me or get her permission for me to get her number and call her. One of my heartfelt desires is that our church would follow through on establishing a mentoring/discipleship program for new Christians and be more personally engaged in helping new attendees to find their place through personalized one on one connection with someone specific. While I am happy to do that work and view it as part of my role and privilege, I only hear about such needs by “accident” and can’t go lurking around asking one person after another, “do you need some help getting connected here to God, to others?” We can’t simply put the responsibility on the person coming in…….. most won’t ask for help. They’ll just look around for a few weeks and if they don’t “connect”, they’ll leave. The vertical beam and horizontal beam of the cross are instructive in how we are to establish vertical relationship with God and horizontal relationships with others. Unless one is a very social extrovert, she’s probably not going to ask for help….so when one does….we need to have a process in place to refer her to someone to journey alongside until she feels comfortable and “at home” and assure that the need is addressed. Speak to new attenders. Get their name. Follow up with them. Invite them to lunch or coffee. Help them find their place among Christ’s people.
