wfn.org | Congregations offer welcoming tips

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Feb. 26, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{075}

By Michael Wacht*
	
LAKELAND, Fla. (UMNS) -- The third series of national television commercials
featuring the United Methodist Church will begin airing three weeks before
Easter. It's part of the denomination's four-year "Igniting Ministry" media
campaign, which kicked off last September.
	
To help churches participate in the campaign, clergy and lay members across
the country offered tips on how to be more welcoming to new people. Delia
Halverson, secretary of the Florida Annual Conference's Discipleship
Ministry team, compiled a list of some of those suggestions.
	
7	Welcoming guests should be a sincere gesture with no underlying
motives, according to the Rev. Bill Brewer, pastor of Alva (Fla.) United
Methodist Church in Alva. "Welcoming is for welcoming, not to get people to
return, not to get them to join your church, not even to get them to know
Jesus Christ, but is simply to let visitors experience the hospitality of
the kingdom. If your welcome is sincere, chances are they will come back."
7	Use greeters, the most common welcoming tool. Position them at the
doors or in the sanctuary and supplement them with a welcome or information
table in the church's narthex. 
7	Help greeters stand out. Greeters at Centerville United Methodist
Church in Virginia wear stoles. Greeters at First United Methodist Church,
Oviedo, Fla., wear "Ask Me" buttons to make it clear they are available to
answer questions and give directions. The church also has "pew greeters"
throughout the sanctuary.
7	Make the worship service more welcoming. Hobson United Methodist
Church in Nashville, Tenn., adopted a "dress-down" policy. People are
encouraged to come as they are, and the pastor makes a point of dressing
casually. "It's not enough to say to poor folks, 'Come as you are,' but we
make everyone comfortable by letting our leaders dress down," one member
said. "Some of our older members still wear their Sunday best, and that's
accepted, too."
7	Nashville's Belmont United Methodist Church has members from more
than 36 different countries. That diversity is reflected in the church's
liturgy, anthems, calls to worship and other musical pieces. Members are
invited to dress in their native attire.
7	Help visitors and new members become more comfortable with the order
of worship. One church distributes a practice tape of familiar songs,
responses and creeds to newcomers and encourages them to borrow a tape and
practice at home.
7	Move the congregational greeting time to the end or near the end of
the worship service. Members of two churches said this facilitated
conversations with newcomers after the service. Another church recommended
people holding hands during the final hymn or chorus.
7	Make the sanctuary more comfortable. One church's ushers seat
families with children near the front, so the children can see what's going
on. Another church has removed the back few rows of pews and replaced them
with rocking chairs for parents with children or older people who cannot sit
in pews.
7	Invite newcomers to a meal. Grace United Methodist Church in
Alamogordo, N.M., holds a Shared Table every Saturday at noon. The free meal
attracts as many as 150, most of whom are not church members.  Larry Beman,
a member at Avon (N.Y.) United Methodist Church, says his church holds
newcomers' lunches at members' homes as a way to welcome visitors and answer
questions they may have.
7	Have the pastor or a member of the church staff make contact with
visitors during the week through letters, cards or phone calls. A member of
Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., said this is also an
opportunity to get feedback about the church.
	
The Igniting Ministry ads will be seen on 13 cable networks, including CNN,
Headline News, TBS, TNT, the Weather Channel and Fox Sports. A schedule is
listed on the Igniting Ministry Web site, http://www.ignitingministry.org. 
	
The ad that will air is called "Dream" and is the first Easter spot produced
for the campaign. It is part of the "Love Letters" expression. 

# # #

*Wacht is the assistant editor of the Florida Annual Conference's edition of
the United Methodist Review, where this story originally appeared.

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United Methodist News Service
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