WELCOMING GUESTS 

Info deskYou may have seen the new sign in St Mary’s foyer: “Welcome, we’re glad you’re here”. This sign expresses our drive to create a culture of invitation and welcome in our church. A few months ago the vicar asked me to evaluate and enhance the way we receive new people who come through our doors on Sundays. Since then I’ve tried to put myself in the shoes of guests and newcomers and make sure that their first visits to St Mary’s are as easy and positive as possible. In addition to the welcome sign we have pioneered a new-look information desk and a team of Roaming Greeters in the 9.30am service. Welcome is, of course, important in ALL our services, but the busy 9.30am service seemed like a good place to start and to build from.
 
We are extremely blessed at St Mary’s in that we get new people through our door on most Sundays. This is particularly true for the 9.30am service. The maths is striking: if we get just 2 visitors each Sunday we get more than a hundred visitors a year! This number does not include any guest services or special events, just our ordinary services. What an amazing opportunity we have to befriend those visitors and bring many into contact with the gospel for the first time!
 
I have been especially challenged by a quote from a book called “Becoming a Welcoming Church” by Thom Rainer who is a researcher, writer and a church consultant. Rainer writes, What takes place in the first ten minutes when a first-time guest arrives at a church will largely determine whether he or she returns. Reading this made me question what the first 10 minutes look like at St Mary’s... I didn’t really know because - although I love welcoming guests to church! - I rarely accompany any of them for that length of time because it would take me away my ‘post’ in the foyer and stop me from spotting who else might be new.
 
I decided to take Rainer’s advice and set up a team of Roaming Greeters who are not tied to any post and who are therefore free to accompany newcomers. Roaming Greeters can give guided tours of the building, help parents register their children into junior church, show adults into the service and even stay sitting with them in the service if that seems helpful. And they can chat/network some more after the service over a cup of coffee. In other words Roaming Greeters are free to ROAM and help guests feel noticed, wanted and welcomed.
 
Alongside Roaming Greeters we have also launched a new-look information desk. A new dedicated info team is there to point guests in the right direction and answer anyone’s questions about church life. The information desk also doubles up as a refreshments stop so guests don’t even have to queue for their coffee!
 
I pray and trust that these new initiatives will help us to own Romans 12:13 in pursuing hospitality and befriending strangers. This goes far beyond a quick greeting at the door. May there be many divine encounters as we continue to invite and welcome!
 
I would like to thank everyone who has made these initiatives possible; people who have poured time and effort into the “Welcome” branding, as well as the teams that continue to serve in their new roles. I am also very grateful for the kind and generous legacy that Edith Bosson left to our church; it is thanks to her legacy that we have been able to finance the welcome sign, table-cloths for the guest area, etc. Edith was one of the kindest and most welcoming people I’ve known and this seems like a very fitting tribute to her memory.
 
Outi Rankin


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