My son became an usher at the Church he attends. When I was growing up, our small Church had ushers; their job was to hand out printed programs and help people to their seats. So thinking I knew what he was talking about, I began to ask him several questions.

To my surprise, their ushers are much different than I remember. Their Church community has recruited a group of young men simply to have conversations with people on Sunday mornings. They arrive early and look for people they do not know. They introduce themselves and start a conversation. The one rule he told me is that they are not allowed to ask, “How are you today?” or “How are you doing?” Instead, they are required to have a “real conversation.”

One of the core values of his Church is that they aim to be “relationally intense.” Their goal is not to have surface-level conversations and vague acquaintances. Instead, their goal is to build authentic relationships, starting with genuine discussions on Sunday mornings.

I wonder what would happen if I instituted this in the Church I lead. What would happen if every Church took this approach?