phoenix

The parish magazine of

all saints hanworth

December 2005

The Welcoming Church

On Monday evening 14th November some twenty of us from those who are sidespersons or on the PCC met to follow up on Fr Lawrence Smith’s talk last year on Welcoming people to our Church.

Fr John presented a ‘vision’ of what is seen as ‘best practice’ in churches today, to see how much of it we felt was relevant and important for All Saints.

It can be quite daunting for new visitors coming for the first time to any church and we want to make their experience as welcome and as friendly as possible. Now All Saints already has a reputation for being a friendly and welcoming place, but there is much more that we can do.

We need to find ways of involving the whole congregation in welcoming new people and making them feel at home. This extends from those who greet people at the door, to perhaps having a special person, or ‘Welcome Team Leader’ whose job it is to pick out new people and introduce them to existing members who would be able to make them feel at home and help them with the Liturgy.

We also need to find ways of developing groups, like Home Groups, Uniformed Organisations, Silver Threads and the Walsingham Cell so that new people can be integrated into the life of the church.

All of this can be greatly helped by the physical environment.

We want to develop the Narthex as a social area which ideally would include new heating, a kitchen and toilets. This would mean that visitors would not need to go over to the Hall. Many don’t and they escape!

By having this welcoming area between the entrance and the worship area we can ensure that we meet and talk to all who visit, give them refreshments and make them feel welcome.

We also could introduce what are known as ‘safe areas’. Have you ever visited a strange place and didn’t know what to do with yourself whilst you were waiting? It’s so embarrassing!

Well that is how many visitors to church will feel, so help them to feel ‘occupied’ by having a ‘Welcome Corner’ and Display Boards to browse and perhaps a bookstall as well.

Also my pet hate - you can tell the welcome of an organisation or church by looking at the loos! What does ours say about us! Perhaps we    need to do something about that!

I have produced a full report of the presentation and some points raised in our discussions afterwards. Please get your hands on a copy and read much more about it.

Welcome is part of something we call ‘Every Member Ministry’. It is your way of being involved yourself in helping people to have an encounter with God in our Worship and our Church.

Please take the trouble to read the full report and find out what is happening - get involved!

Fr John

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