How well does your congregation welcome visitors?

When we were traveling home from Searcy, we spent the night in Tupelo, MS, then got up early and drove several hours east to worship. (That's as specific as I'm going to get about where this church I'm going to describe is located.) We planned to arrive in time for worship, not for class, and that's when we did arrive. We pulled into the rather full parking lot (good sign - a lot of people had attended Bible class, apparently) and walked into the full foyer. Two men, likely elders, greeted us and chatted with Bob. A sister at the other door handed us a bulletin and smiled at Loni and I. We made our way through the crowd into the auditorium. (No one greeted us.)

The auditorium had two aisles. The right aisle was closer to the main entrance so that is the one we started up. There were some partially empty pews along the aisle on the right side so I walked up toward them. (Bob was in the rear of the group because he had been chatting with the two brothers.) As I approached the open seating, I discovered that folks had put purses, Bibles, sweaters in the pews to hold their spots. Kept on walking toward the front. No one offered to help us find a seat or invited us to seat near them. We walked all the way to the front, unsuccessful in our quest for a place to sit, to the right across the front of the auditorium and started down the side aisle. One pew a few rows back had no items holding places. I spoke to the women sitting toward the center and asked if the seats were taken. She fumbled in her reply, "Um, you can sit here." She was friendly, but it was obvious that she had hoped to save the places for her family, so I smiled and said thanks anyway and moved on, still looking for unclaimed seats, ALL THE WAY TO THE BACK of the auditorium! What to do now?

We started BACK up that aisle - the place was filling up and it was nearly time to begin. Up at the front, across the front, and to the side in the second pew there was a spot we had passed by, so we walked back to the front and across where we finally sat down.

Here's my point -- if I had NOT been a Christian, when I reached the back on the first go-round, I would have continued right on out the back! It was very embarrassing to have to start up front again feeling all eyes on us.

I hope and pray that this situation is VERY unusual, but I wonder. ALL of us need to be always aware of visitors, first-times and repeaters, and be thoughtful about how we welcome them (or not).

What do you think makes visitors feel welcome? What experiences have you had? What does your church do that you feel is successful in welcoming guests? What turns you off, or what do you think makes visitors uncomfortable or feel unwelcome?

Our two most recent churches had visitor signs in the parking lot which I think is very welcoming. I noticed that this church did not, but that's okay. There are other ways to make visitors feel welcome (which this church didn't utilize).

How do you think greeters should behave? Should visitors be requested to stand? (I vote no.) Wear a special sticker or name badge? (Another nay from me.) How can we make sure they have comfortable (meaning emotionally comfortable as well as physically) seats? Do you know folks (are are you one) who invites guests to sit with you? How about welcome packets and/or visitor cards? Whaddaya think?