The experience of an unchurched non-Christian coming into church has been likened to that of a Christian going into a betting shop. Both are going into environments with which they are totally unfamiliar and therefore do not know how they should act.
Accordingly, it is a big challenge for Christians to know how to respond when strangers come into church so that they can make the strangers feel welcome.
Ruth was such an outsider when she came back to Judah with her mother-in-law, Naomi. She was a Moabitess, totally unfamiliar with how things operated in Judah. However, there was one person who went to great efforts in order to make her feel welcome. That man was Boaz. And from him we can learn lessons for ourselves regarding how we respond to strangers when they come into church.
