As I write these words I’m on my first day back in the office, freshly returned from vacation, albeit with a stack of mail on my desk and several hundred emails sitting in my inbox! Hopefully, by the time you read this I will have long since responded to them all. In the meantime, I’d especially like to thank Jane Piver, the church staff and our Vestry for so faithfully “minding the shop” in my absence.

This year’s vacation was a particularly meaningful one for us, since Chris and I celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary in July. In honor of that, Per and Stella Kullstam were kind enough to lend us their home on the island of Svartsö off the coast of Stockholm. And so while my parents played “grandma and grandpa” to our children in North Carolina, Chris and I spent a week enjoying the crisp Scandinavian air, the brisk Baltic Sea waters, and the beautiful scenery of Stockholm and its surrounding archipelago.

Upon our return, we all shared some family time down at our eventual retirement home in quiet Lancaster County, Virginia (population 30,000), dividing our hours between clearing brush on the property, crabbing and fishing down at the community dock, and swimming in the nearby pool.

With the frenetic pace of the rest of the year, it was a much needed respite, and we appreciate the opportunity to get away for awhile.

One of the things I like to do while on vacation is to visit other churches, not only to see how they do things, but to check out how they treat their visitors (we always go incognito). Over the years, we’ve had mixed results, with everything from being asked to introduce ourselves from the pew (God bless the Baptists!) to nary a “hello” at coffee hour.

At Pohick, we try to strike a balance between overwhelming our visitors, on the one hand, and ignoring them, on the other. Our desire is always to be gracious hosts to them, welcoming them in the name of Christ.

Thanks especially to the leadership of our Ushers, Greeters and Newcomers’ Committee members, I think we mostly succeed in this endeavor. Still, I raise this matter now because the start of the school year is often when families intentionally seek out a church home. Over the next few weeks, this will almost certainly be the case at Pohick, with so many new residents having moved into the area recently.

So, what can you do to pitch in?

First of all, be courageous in introducing yourself to people you don’t know. Yes, maybe they’ve been members for years, but they also could be visiting for the first time and don’t know a soul. In any case, a good opening line is: “I’m so-and-so, I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Secondly, if you find out they’re visitors, introduce them around, particularly to the clergy. If you meet them in a pew, help them navigate through the service, handing them the right books and pointing out the right pages. Answer any questions they might have about receiving communion, making use of the bulletin insert that explains our customs in this regard.

Thirdly, ask them to fill out a pew card if they seem interested in Pohick (or even if they don’t!). This sets in motion a very thorough follow-up process, where a member of the Newcomers’ team contacts the family, offering them literature about our many different groups and activities. Also, let a Greeter or Usher know of any visitors, so that they can receive one of our welcome bags as they leave church.

Finally, invite the individual or family back to worship, as well as to other upcoming church events. September and early October are particularly rich times for the latter, since we have coming up our Benefit Crab Feast (Sept. 10), Sunday school and EYC registration (Sept. 11), Activities Fair (Sept. 18), Apple Butter Weekend (Sept. 24-25), and the Pohick Country Fair (Oct. 1). These are all great opportunities for new families to get more involved and meet other members.

As you do these things, however, always keep in mind the words of the Apostle Paul, who exhorted the Romans to “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7). The bottom line at Pohick is never our groups or activities, or even our storied past. The bottom line is always the love that Jesus Christ has for us, and the charge we all have to pass that love along. Everything else is (or should be) a means to that greater end.

May God bless us with success in fulfilling that charge in the weeks ahead as we enter the start of our program year at Pohick.