Churches should adopt the ‘meet and greet’ style hospitality of the commercial world to welcome new visitors, according to Rev. Alison Gilchrist, a Church of England priest and her book Creating a Culture of Welcome.
But not everyone agrees. For some the thought of a plastic welcome is all too similar to a high pressure sales pitch. But the underlying idea rings true:
“Protestant or Catholic, traditionalist or trendy, the harsh truth is that the survival of a congregation hinges less on the doctrines it espouses than the professionalism with which it spreads its good news.”
