A fun thought...

I had a class last week that focused on discipleship of all ages. At one point we got to talking about how the church runs, and how you can tell what a church values by how they operate. Big nursery, bright colors, lots of fun stuff, big volunteer pool -- they value the babies. You get the idea. One thing the professor stated caught my attention: you can tell how much a church values visitors based on how the parking lot and sanctuary fill up. If you value visitors...

your parking lot will fill up from the back forward. That means people park far away to leave the open spots for those visiting, and those that need them (moms with car seats, etc.)

and

your pews will fill up from the front back. No one who visits wants to sit up front. No one. If we value people, we should sit close to the front and leave the open seats in the back for the new folks who are uncomfortable being in the spot light.

So how about it? Are you willing to say 'welcome' by parking far? By sitting close? I'm interested to see...