As I have said before one of my closest friends, Faith, goes to the Baptist Church on Trafalgar Road. I watched her be baptised there, went to their youth club when I was about fourteen (and caused much havoc...very skilled in that one), pestered various people on their Youth Alpha course even though I've never been a member of the congregation. Despite my occasionally darkening their doorway they have always been very welcoming and have all said how pleased they are that I've found a home in a church.
Once a month they hold a "Connect Service." (I went to one at the beginning of Advent last year in actual fact.) These are aimed at people who never really go to church (or at least not a baptist one) and during the service the person leading clearly explains what's happening and why and encourages newcomers to participate as little or as much as they like. This is what I really admire about the Baptists. They purposefully set aside one of their services each month to make outsiders feel more welcome. They tackle their call to evangelisation with a high level of community involvement which is absolutely fantastic. They make attending a church service (which is kinda scary if you've never, ever been before) seem like something you've always done. Like it's a part of you. And if you stay for the tea and coffee afterwards you're pretty much guaranteed to be approached by various members of the congregation asking who you are, if you attend a different church normally, how you found the service etc., etc. (but not in a pushy way.) The services themselves are obviously very different to what I'm used to (and in my view can never compare to the beauty of the Mass) but because the church is quite small (and normally quite busy) you still get that wonderful sense of the community that I've found at St. John's. And as I've said to various people on various occasions, baptists handle evangelisaton in a very...hands-on way, which is something to be admired...and something to learn from.
Although I highly doubt I'll ever be a Baptist, you've got to give them a round of applause for their efforts to help non-Christians find their way to God.
I remember going to a Baptist Church in Calgary about 30 years ago. I just picked it out of the telephone directory at random, appeared at the entrance and was immediately assigned a couple to look after me. Once the service was finished I got two invitations to lunch (it was Thanksgiving Day). I turned them down because I wanted to look round Calgary - a very bad decision!
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