Friday, March 20, 2009

A Volley from the Canon, #45 "For Example..."

FOR EXAMPLE…

Following up on last week (Volley # 44), here’s a family experience to illustrate. I know that many of our congregations have great ideas to share, and I hope we will hear your contributions, too.

Our son Daniel and his wife Chantal live in Charlotte, NC, near Huntersville. Soon after they moved there, Linda and I visited for the weekend, and we attended St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Huntersville, with them for their first visit (well, we parents do what we can to move things along.) St. Mark’s is a little country church that is no longer in the country. They’d almost have to resort to dire measures NOT to grow. On the contrary, however, they have called an energetic and dynamic rector, and an excellent preacher, the Rev. Sarah Hollar, Finding seats can be a problem, and they are planning their new building now. Their welcome was friendly and warm. They offered a very positive and affirming worship experience.

After worship, we went out for lunch. When we returned to their new home, we found a colorful bag hanging on the doorknob. The bag contained a church newsletter, a welcome note, and several little items like pens, chocolates, refrigerator magnets, etc. Both “kids” were impressed. Daniel, as a “PK,” is a pro of sorts with this sort of thing, but that didn’t detract from it at all—he was pleased, as anyone would be to be told specifically that he was wanted in this congregation. We must not just assume that people will know this: we need to tell them!

I know some congregations send out more symbolic gifts, like fresh-baked bread. That is great, if someone wants to take it on, on a weekly basis. But don’t keep bread in the freezer for occasional use! Freezer-burned bread makes a statement, but not the one we want to make.

St. Mark’s has fancy, engraved name-tags for their members—a danger area in my opinion (difficult to maintain consistently). But on their next visit, Daniel and Chantal found shiny new tags on the rack with their names on them! A+ for St. Mark’s!

A Volley from the Canon, #44, Now What?

NOW WHAT?

A new family showed up for church last Sunday. They were welcomed, and seemed to be comfortable with the congregation. They seemed happy to be in church, and appreciated the worship. Now what?

We used to drop the ball all too often on that “first date,” greeting and welcoming people. We’re doing much better now on that score, after great effort. Now, we need to pay attention also to the next step, helping people who visit a time or two to make the decision to become members of the congregation, and helping them to find a place for themselves there.

Step Number One is to follow up to that first visit with some kind of non-threatening contact. In many growing congregations, a lay person or two will drop by the home on Sunday afternoon, bearing some kind of welcome package. They don’t go inside, even if invited, and they limit their visit to about five minutes. They are just delivering a small gift, and reinforcing the idea of welcome. Note: the clergy person or spouse must not do this! That would be too threatening. It is surprising how impressed people are by this gesture, though. It makes a powerful statement, and it is well worth the investment in time and organization to the congregation.

People do want to hear from the clergy, however. A hand-written card is all it takes for the first contact. After another appearance at church or two, a phone call with an offer to visit in the home or at a coffee-bar would be in order. (Of course, if they have indicated a desire for a clergy visit, their request must be honored promptly.) That visit, when it occurs, is all-important—it can make or break the relationship with that prospective member (especially in the “pastoral” size congregation.)

If the congregation has “pre-made” name tags (which I do not recommend), then there had better be some with those people’s names on them, including the children, NEXT SUNDAY! Don’t make them ask for one, or let them look for one and not find it. This is no time to go stingy.

More to come, spread over the next several weeks….

A Volley from the Canon, #43 Event Evangelism

EVENT EVANGELISM

The liturgical calendar is an attractive mystery to those who don’t live with it as we do, both churched and unchurched. Not only are our seasons color-coded, but so are our days of special observance. Just the fact that we have days of special observance puts us a leg up over many of our Christian neighbors.

We use the calendar to teach and inspire our own people, and to organize our common life. We have the further opportunity, however, to make great use of special seasons and events to attract others who are seeking to be taught and inspired, and who can appreciate some structure to organize their own spiritual lives. We’ve just observed Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, and now we are in the season of Lent, which has an amazing attraction for people one would not expect to be very keen on abstinence and penitence. (It always amazes me that we Episcopalians, as hedonistic as we are by nature, would be as serious about Lent as we are.) In the weeks ahead, we have not only more of Lent, but also the heaven-sent evangelistic advantage of Holy Week and Easter, and our deeply symbolic ways of honoring them.

If we are ever to invest in some advertizing, put up special signs or banners, send out fliers, and invite neighbors to attend worship with us, now is a great time for it. Passion Sunday, with its procession of palms and the dramatic reading of the Gospel; Maundy Thursday, with the washing of feet and that heart-wrenching stripping of the altar; Good Friday’s observance, in silence and awe; finally the Great Vigil of Easter and the Sunday of the Resurrection—who could possibly miss out on the messages of those powerful and moving remembrances, when they are done with reverence and care?

Our communities are filled with hungry hearts longing for a faith to take that seriously, as we ourselves once were. Let’s do the best we can to find them this year, and offer them sanctuary.

Friday, March 6, 2009

A Volley from the Canon, #42

SPOT-POLLING

Do you occasionally want to know what members of your congregation think about a recent experience or innovation, or a possible one being considered? Would you like to increase the people’s “stake” in the practices of the congregation? Help folks feel more involved and more valued? Add a motive for regular attendance at coffee hour, or whatever fellowship activity surrounds worship? Try “Spot-Polling.”

Here’s how you do it: Place a newsprint easel pad on an easel near the entrance to the gathering area. On the top sheet, neatly print the question, clearly and unambiguously worded, that you want feedback on. Add the list of options that are reasonable and acceptable possibilities, with a “blank” drawn beside each one. Leave some marking pens on the easel tray or where they can be easily found. Invite each person present to indicate his or her preference on the question by making “their mark” in the appropriate blank. Each person may vote once (though there could be a circumstance in which you might solicit their top two or top three choices. Be clear with instructions in that case.)

Add them up at the end, and next week, report the result. Voila! You have your answer.

Only persons present can vote. No absentee or remedial ballots. Next time, be there!

A caveat: don’t poll on a question you don’t really want to know the answer to, or that you’ve already made your mind up on! Don’t poll on something that someone else has a right to decide. Don’t overdo this and render your vestry irrelevant. But for occasional, limited, and appropriate use, this method will give you quick, helpful information and important morale benefits, too.

A Volley from the Canon, #41

A LENTEN DISCIPLINE
One table group at the recent Anti-Racism training in Wheeling was discussing the readiness of people to accept change in their church experience, and they came up with a suggestion for a Lenten discipline. Each Sunday during Lent, sit in a completely different place in the church, and take note of how it feels. How is the worship experience different? What new perceptions are gained, and what is lost? Can you even do it—and what would that mean?
Why not give it a shot?


Bonus thought: “If the people in the pews of your church do not look like the people on the street outside your church, your congregation is dying.”