So the ward council has invited us to discuss how we can help people to feel more welcome. Any thoughts? You know, I went to a new school last year and for the first couple of weeks
I sat by myself at lunch. It was the worst.
What can we do to make sure people don't sit by themselves at church?
They're not going to feel very welcomed if they're sitting alone.
You know when you go to the temple and at the entrance, there’s always people that smile and say, “Welcome to the temple!“? Yeah, they’re always super friendly! Wouldn't it be great if we could make people feel like that in our church building the way they feel at the temple?
Helping people feel welcome shouldn't just be a Sunday thing. We have weekly activities. We have informal get togethers. And I think even just sending a text and saying hi to them can really help people feel more part of us. Yeah. So actually, Pablo came to church again this week, which was amazing.
We've been teaching him for a while now, but coming to church made him feel really nervous, so we invited Brother Nandez to come to one of Pablo's lessons with us, and they hit it off. He even offered to give Pablo a ride to church and to show him around. And he said yes.
So today, Pablo went on and on about how much it meant to him to have a friend and a tour guide, as he calls it, for the church.
Are there any other members in the ward who would be willing to do that for the friends that we're teaching? Yeah, that's a great idea.
Could we have the Relief Society and the elders quorum reach out to our ministering brothers and sisters and just ask them to help our new and returning members feel more welcome and loved? Sure, we can take that assignment this week and then report back to the group.
Yeah, we'd be happy to do that as well. Just a heads up. I had lunch with Rob Campbell this last week. How is Rob? He's doing well. After his divorce, he stopped coming to church for a few years, but he told me he really wants to come back. He's just afraid of being judged. Is there a way that we could make it less—Awkward?—Awkward, yes. Well,
ten years ago, that was me when I decided to come back to church.
I just appreciated people saying hi and not making a big deal about it. They were just so happy to see me. And they weren’t, you know—Awkward—
Yes! Awkward. That’s the key. Just be yourself.
Okay. Well, great discussion. We'll take these ideas back to the ward council and we can all do our part to help everybody to feel more welcome and loved. And remember, if we see anyone new at church— Don’t let them sit alone. Right.
All right. We'll see you next week, guys.
Thank you.