Tuesday 13 May evening cont’d
Last night we were asked to consider what we do “at the door.”
Bishop Skelton described: How did we strengthen what we did “at the door”?
We created a “Membership Growth Task Force” which guided:
1. Increasing awareness and invitation to the parish: The launching of a new website focused on Anglo-Catholic identity. I wanted to be the first website to come up when people googled “Seattle Episcopal Church,” and we were. We generated the beginning of word of mouth and personal invitations to the parish based on the increasing quality of the Sunday morning experience.
2. Strengthening the parish’s ability to greet newcomers: Strengthening Coffee Hour more generally (no more contribution basket. Better coffee and food. More intentional awareness of who is new and how to connect them to people they might be interested in meeting and how to guide them away from our needier and more troubled folks) and hosting a full parish event in which all were taught to speak to visitors and newcomers at Coffee Hour. In these sessions we got parishioners to actually role-play meeting a visitor, greeting them and talking with them. We discovered that asking questions is a legitimate way to begin a conversations. These role-playing sessions were the point at which things really began to take off for us.
3. Stengthening newcomer follow: Parish funding of rector coffees with newcomers and visitors followed by rector focsing time and energy on taking each newcomer to coffee the week following his or her visit. People do not any longer want to be visited in their homes. Initiating newcomer gatherings at the rector’s house on a regular basis that helped connect newcomers to each other and to longer-timers in the parish. Gathering spoke to Anglo-Catholic identity as well as helped newcomers take the next step in terms of involvement in the parish.
4. Strengthening newcomer orientation: Creating “St. Paul’s 101”
5. Strengthening incorporation: Create formational events secifically related to guiding people into the community: (Godly Play, Adult Foundations Classes, Teen and Adult Enquirers’ Classes)
Take the four categories: INVITING, GREETING, ORIENTING, INCORPORATING – rate your parish in each of these qualities on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high) – this will give you a picture of your parish and help you to see where you need to be at work. Be honest.
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May 13, 2015 at 8:27 am
elbie
What is this? A cult? I hope the clergy are challenging some of these notions …
May 13, 2015 at 3:03 pm
Chris
I’m not quite clear what seems to be cultish. It appears to me that one person is describing a process of revitalization, and from what is described, there has been success in bringing new people into that community. Am I perhaps missing something that furthers cult behaviors?
The parish that I belong to doesn’t incorporate many of these strategies- we have other stories which I also feel very positively about, I am fully supportive of communities which creatively seek to welcome others into a place which shines God’s light. We all find our own ways and hopefully we all keep our discerning ears and hearts open to others’ stories and successes.
May 14, 2015 at 12:31 am
elbie
Hi Chris,
Yes, perhaps you’re right … looking at the definition of the word ‘cult’ it isn’t the best word to use … and yes, I agree … we all find our own ways (or dare I say, are called?) to love through church or other ways.
Personally I can’t say I’m excited by the notion of presenting a glitzy, formulaic, idealized view of church removed from real people with real troubles and needs in order to attract ‘newcomers’ … it doesn’t seem to leave much room for the holy spirit, love or real discernment. But then again, this might not have been the speaker’s original intention … just seems to be going this way …
You mention your parish has other stories you feel very positively about … I’m intrigued … care to share?
May 14, 2015 at 9:28 am
Chris
Thanks Elbie.
I have spent a lifetime agreeing with your sentiment that church should not succumb to the temptation to offer programs and stuff that fills peoples’ time and distracts from the more important things.
I’m not sure that I could describe those stories adequately. I have (for many years) been a member of the church community which Christopher provides leadership for, and like any other community, it has its strengths and challenges. We have several very wonderful things occurring but most importantly, it operates from the core place of this blog’s title- a spacious place. People are not encouraged into programs or activities although these happen in abundance and variety- instead we are all welcomed and invited to join in the feast.
As I said, we have our strengths and challenges, and we also all see things just a bit differently from one another, but to paraphrase Rowan Williams, we stumble along. Works for my wife and me, and it works for lots of us.
May 14, 2015 at 11:46 pm
elbie
Thanks Chris. Yes, it works for me too 🙂