When have you experienced a wonderful welcome at church? How can we provide a warm welcome to those who visit our congregations? What are some practical steps we can take?
These are questions that we have been exploring in EOORC. Our winter educational event had a theme of “Strengthening the Invitation.” The Regional Council produced a helpful checklist for communities of faith to complete. A “mystery visitor” will be visiting each and every congregation in EOORC to help give feedback on how we are (or are not) welcoming newcomers.
Growth Animator Tori Mullin recently wrote a blog post about their family’s experience of being warmly welcomed when visiting a new church. It has some especially great ideas for welcoming children in church.
We want to hear your thoughts and ideas. What are some great things that your congregations are doing to welcome others? Is there a time when you have felt warmly welcomed in a new community of faith? We would love your ideas! Please share in the comments below. A selection of the ideas will be shared in an upcoming newsletter.
I am the Pastoral Charge supervisor at Aylwin Pastoral Charge, and I love how Trinity United Church in Kazabazua has a growth chart on the door post. This is similar to many growth charts you may have seen in homes; you record the heights of children as they grow. Rev. Read Sherman started the tradition of marking a child or teen’s height on the door post each time they have a birthday. The children – many of them now grown – love returning to the church and finding themselves on the wall. It says very clearly that the children are welcome there – no matter if they attend occasionally or often. – Rev. Natalie Matkovsky