Power & Authority in the Church Winter 1980

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Wanted: That Personal Touch

Donald Bubna is a co-pastor of the Salem Alliance Church, Salem, Oregon. That's right, he's a copastor! He and Forrest Schwalm split the responsibilities of senior pastor right down the middle. They minister to a congregation of 700 families and are assisted by a stag of four.

We first met Don through his book Building People (Tyndale, 1978) which describes many of his experiences at Salem Alliance. Excerpts from his book will be appearing in subsequent issues of LEADERSHIP. Don has served at Salem for 15 of his 25 years of ministry.

I hate being treated as a non-person. Recently I corresponded with a computer for almost three months trying to correct an error with a magazine subscription. It was utter frustration. Today's electronic gadgetry makes us an ever-growing, impersonal society. Meanwhile, people are shouting for recognition, and "me-ism" flourishes. The larger church must face this issue or it too will be written off as just another impersonal institution.

Here are ten ideas that I have found helpful in trying to stay personal with more than 700 families at Salem Alliance Church:

1. Meet people at the door. Nothing feels quite as good as to be genuinely greeted by someone with a warm smile, a firm handshake, and a word of welcome. We have trained greeters at each door whose ministry of greeting not only sets the tone for what's going to happen that day, but starts the important process of developing a continuing relationship.

These selected people are trained with certain phrases like, "My name is Jim Baldwin. Help me remember yours." Or, "Have I met you folks before? Would you mind signing our guestbook? Our pastor would like to send you a personal letter."

For our church, visitor ribbons ...

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