Leading Ideas: 5 Things to Consider Before Engaging a Public Issue | First Impressions Are Formed Earlier Than You Think for Wednesday, 24 October 2018 from The Lewis Center for Church Leadership of The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States
Leading Ideas: 5 Things to Consider Before Engaging a Public Issue | First Impressions Are Formed Earlier Than You Think for Wednesday, 24 October 2018 from The Lewis Center for Church Leadership of The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States
When so many causes, crises, and critical needs demand our attention, how can a congregation decide where to engage? Pastor and author Ginger Gaines-Cirelli outlines key questions and concerns in discerning a faithful and sustainable response to public issues.
Choosing when and how to engage actively in the public square requires intentional discernment. If your congregation is discerning whether to take action, for example, to attend a rally or march or to sign a petition or open letter, it is very important and helpful to self-monitor your motives, your integrity, your tolerance for risk, your level of commitment, and your hope. Choosing where to show up, how to lend your name, and what to support is risky. It is important to consider some of the following questions and concerns.
1. Where do the resources and passion of your congregation connect with the concrete needs in the larger community?
When there are so many causes, crises, and critical needs that press for a response, a clarifying piece of discernment is to identify which needs connect most with your congregation’s passion and resources. No congregation can attend to everything. Some churches may grow large enough that small groups and home groups begin to mobilize around particular areas of shared passion and/or expertise. But even in large faith communities, there needs to be focus and strategic prioritization for efforts to have the greatest effect. Here again it is helpful to remember that we participate in God’s work of mending together with many others in the body of Christ and in the broader beloved community of God’s family. Gifts and strengths abound.
Different congregations will have different strengths and passions. I have served congregations with human resources for brick-and-mortar building, repair, and contracting. I have served congregations with passion and skill for policy critique, development, and legislative strategy. I have served congregations with human resources for direct service with the poor and vulnerable through feeding, training, teaching, and so on. Some congregations will have resources across these and many other broad categories of ministry. What is important is to identify the gifts that your community of faith offers to the cause at hand. What can you offer that others need?
2. What is already happening in the community that your congregation can support?
It is sometimes tempting to think we need to create something new to meet a discerned need or to participate in sacred resistance. Most likely there are nonprofits, other faith communities, and grassroots movements already engaged in the work to which we are called. Even for the largest, most wealthy congregations, it makes sense and is deeply faithful to develop partnerships with other groups. Not only does this provide opportunity for listening and learning from other populations, but also it exponentially grows the network of engagement, expands the pool of resources and creativity, and offers the bonus of new relationships and companions for the journey.
3. What are the risks involved in your action, and how will you prepare for potential consequences?
Some actions and commitments will carry with them inherent risks. Congregations need to be honest and strategic in thinking this through. Increasingly, I hear about steps to take if arrested at a peaceful protest, and I regularly see images of people of faith and conscience being taken into custody for “disturbing the peace” or trespassing. We know there is an inherent risk of violence if we put our bodies in a place where grief, hatred, and rage are bubbling over. In addition to the kinds of risk connected to public protests or actions, there are others to consider when looking at congregational stances or ongoing practices.
There will be some risk any time we choose to step out and speak up to name oppression — of ourselves or of others. There will always be some risk when we choose to stand in solidarity with those whose lives and experience call out for justice and care. Congregations need to be honest and strategic in thinking through the risks so that their action and witness will have integrity, serve the common good, and provide the greatest possible support for those most in need.
4. Does the proposed action commit the congregation to ongoing engagement? If so, how will follow-through be assured?
Although people mobilize and respond to a call to action in a moment of outrage or grief, their initial burst of energy often dissolves, leaving a few people holding the proverbial bag of responsibility to carry the mission or movement forward. This cycle can cause disillusionment and be profoundly enervating for a community of faith. This isn’t an issue with “one-off” actions taken in response to a discrete tragedy or injustice. But if the action entails a longer-term commitment (public affiliation as part of an ongoing coalition or movement, for example), thoughtful leaders will want to think through how to mobilize lay leadership to maintain meaningful engagement and accountability so that ongoing progress, needs, narratives, and challenges of the movement will continue to fuel the congregation. Otherwise, the failure to follow through will be felt as just that — a failure; and no one will be strengthened or energized by that.
5. What training or other resources are needed to equip leaders and members of the congregation to participate in the action?
This may seem obvious but think about how to prepare for actions. When it is possible, seek the insights of others who have experience or expertise to share. You don’t have to spend a year reading about an issue before acting, but it is important to think about resources and guidelines that will provide safety, grounding, and guidance for your folks.
It is not easy to discern what to do. But we are called by God to do what we can.
This article is adapted from Sacred Resistance: A Practical Guide to Christian Witness and Dissent (Abingdon, 2018) by Ginger Gaines-Cirelli. Used by permission. The book is available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Related Resources
“Sacred Resistance,” a Leading Ideas Talks podcast episode featuring Ginger Gaines-Cirelli
Ginger Gaines-Cirelli is senior pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, and author of Sacred Resistance: A Practical Guide to Christian Witness and Dissent (Abingdon, 2018), available at Cokesbury and Amazon. She participated in the Lewis Fellows program for outstanding young clergy in 2007-2008.
First Impressions Are Formed Earlier Than You Think by Kay Kotan and Blake Bradford
Kay Kotan and Blake Bradford explain that a church visitor’s first impression is often formed long before they enter the sanctuary. So, hospitality needs to begin online, as people approach your location, and through casual encounters with your building.
We have all heard it said that you do not have a second chance to make a first impression. This is so true in the life of the church. But where do those first impressions occur in the church? We often are misled to believe the first impression is at the door of the sanctuary or perhaps the front door. We would challenge you that hospitality begins much sooner.
Online
Most likely, hospitality begins online. Yes, online! What kind of first impression would a guest receive from your church’s Facebook page? Your website? Are there stories of transformation and relationships, or simply pictures of an empty building? Most often social media is used for insider communication without much consideration for new persons. Have someone not affiliated with your church take a look at your online presence and give you some feedback.
Location
Next, we want to think about hospitality offered to someone approaching your church’s location. Is there directional signage to find the church, where to park, and what entrance to use? Is the guest being greeted in the parking lot, at the exterior entrance door, and at the sanctuary door? Is the interior signage adequate for guests to find their way easily around the facility, paying special attention to signage for restrooms, children’s ministries, and the worship area? Is there a congregation-wide culture of hospitality, or is hospitality left to the greeting team alone?
Worship
How about worship? Is worship designed to encourage new people to be comfortable and encounter Christ, or is it designed totally for the sake of those already in the church? Is the bulletin guest-friendly, or are we using insider or churchy language and acronyms? Think about announcements: are the content and delivery guest-friendly? Could a guest feel invited and easily figure out how to step into ministry and the congregation’s web of relationships?
Are pastoral prayers filled with references to Hazel’s surgery outcome or Bob’s grief while members nod in knowing agreement, and guests are left perplexed and mildly embarrassed by the sharing of private information? Do we forget we have guests among us and rush out the door once the benediction concludes, or do we intentionally offer an opportunity after worship for the forming of new relationships?
We often mistake friendliness for hospitality. It is rare that we, the authors, encounter a church where people are not friendly or at least polite. However, we often encounter a church that is friendly but fails to offer opportunities to form relationships. People can go almost anywhere to find friendliness, but most people are looking for something beyond friendliness. They are looking for relationships. They are looking for a place to belong.
Building
We must also think about our building as it relates to hospitality. Churches often allow outside groups to use the building. The imagined hope is that if people enter the building for another activity, they will somehow find their way to the life of the congregation, most often through worship. Yet we offer no intentional pathway for this to occur. Instead, we have the crazy idea that some Sunday morning, the person who goes to Scouts on Thursday night will wake up and suddenly decide to go to church on Sunday. Friends, this occurs rarely, if at all.
How does your church offer hospitality to groups who use the building so that there is an opportunity to build relationships? If a church is not willing to offer hospitality and opportunities for building relationships, then we must ask, with all due respect, why are you letting groups use the church? Issuing a key is not hospitality. Churches are not in the landlord business. We are in the people business. If we are not willing to invest in the people who use the building, then we must ask ourselves why outsiders are using the building.
Excerpted fromImpact! Reclaiming the Call of Lay Ministry(Market Square Publishing Company, 2018) by Kay Kotan and Blake Bradford. Used by permission. The book is available at CokesburyandAmazon.
Kay Kotan is Director of the Office of Equipping Vital Congregations for the Susquehanna Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. A credentialed coach, church consultant, speaker, and author, she served on the Missouri Conference's Healthy Church Initiative Executive Team. Her recent book with coauthor Blake Bradford, Impact! Reclaiming the Call of Lay Ministry (Market Square Publishing Company, 2018), is available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Blake Bradford is a United Methodist minister appointed as a mission strategist and district superintendent in the Arkansas Conference. His recent book with coauthor Kay Kotan, Impact! Reclaiming the Call of Lay Ministry (Market Square Publishing Company, 2018), is available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
On a calendar, many activities may seem the same. However, every church expends its time and energy disproportionately across those efforts. These questions may provide clues about your church's priorities.
What activities and ministries do we plan extensively?
What activities and ministries do we plan very little?
Learn concepts and strategies to welcome and respond to your first-time and repeat visitors, reach younger generations, expand your church's entry points, and get new people involved. The New Welcome Video Tool Kit helps you open your church to new people by acknowledging the changing ways that people enter into the life of congregations.
How can your congregation make a good first impression with first-time visitors? 50 Ways to Welcome New People provides strategies and tips to ensure your visitors feel truly welcome and at home in worship, plus guidance on visitor follow-ups and ways to be more inviting in your church.
One key to effective outreach is making sure that worship visitors feel truly welcome. These 50 Ways will help your congregation make a good first impression and extend hospitality in meaningful ways.
Engage your leaders and members
Teach that hospitality is at the core of the Gospel.
Teach your congregation to honor Christ in everyone and that God seeks to be in relationship with ALL persons.
Make a good first Impression
Convey a clear invitation and a statement of welcome in all communications directed at the external community — advertisements, banners, flyers, website, etc.
Know that 40% of visitors make up their mind about a church before they even see the pastor, according to Barna Research. Within two minutes of the beginning of a service visitors have formed an opinion about whether the congregation is friendly.
Care for your building and grounds as a way of honoring your attendees and honoring God. A well-cared-for building demonstrates a commitment to excellence and communicates that what the church does is important.
Have clear exterior and interior signage that guides visitors everywhere they need to go.
Reserve special parking places for visitors. Encourage church members and staff to park offsite or in more remote spaces. If parking lot congestion is an issue, recruit volunteer parking attendants.
Make your nursery clean, safe, sanitary, well-equipped, and visually appealing to children and their parents. Use a space that is easy to find and convenient to the sanctuary. Make sure your nursery workers and procedures inspire confidence on the part of parents.
Make sure your restrooms are neat and clean.
Be intentional about saying hello and goodbye
Station greeters at all entrances, in classroom areas, and in the parking lot or entry walks, if appropriate.
Identify your greeters and ushers with a special badge or name tag so visitors who need information can easily identify them.
Encourage friendly, out-going persons with the gift of “hospitality” to serve as greeters and ushers. Don’t expect that just anyone can do these jobs well. Provide regular training that helps them see the church through a visitor’s eyes.
Escort newcomers to the nursery, classrooms, coffee hour, etc. Don’t just point the way or give directions.
Adopt the “rule of three,” which says members will not talk to other members in the first three minutes following the service — typically how long it takes guests to exit.
Enact the “circle of ten” rule — that each member will greet anyone, member or guest, who comes within ten feet of them.
Say, “I don’t think we’ve met before. …” if you are not sure if the person next to you is a member or a visitor.
Ask outgoing church members to sit in the pews where visitors most commonly sit, often near the entrance or in the back.
Post someone at every exit to shake hands and thank people for coming. Ask worship participants (readers, music leaders, liturgists, etc.,) to do this since their faces will be familiar.
Help newcomers feel at home in worship
Accept and encourage casual attire.
Do not ask visitors to stand and identify themselves. Seventy percent of new attendees feel negatively about being recognized. However, they do expect people to be friendly and welcoming.
Provide nametags for the whole congregation and develop the habit of wearing them. Form a “tag team” to organize and promote name tag use.
Review your church bulletin and other printed material to make sure information is not “insider oriented.” Avoid church jargon and assuming that people understand the context.
Make sure your order of worship is easy for a visitor to follow. Include written or verbal explanations of what is going on and why. Print the words to all prayers, songs, and responses.
Sing at least one hymn each Sunday that is well known outside the church, such as “Amazing Grace,” “Joyful Joyful,” or “Morning Has Broken.”
Include a welcome to visitors in the open words before the service. Make sure the person speaking identifies him or herself. It is best for the pastor to issue this welcome.
Remember that visitors sometimes arrive a few minutes late. Don’t front load all the information directed at them.
Place information about your church’s ministries where a visitor can easily find it — preferably in the pew, or a clearly marked location near the entry points used by visitors. Don’t expect them to go someplace else to find it.
Prepare Visitors Packets to be handed out by greeters with information about your church programs.
Give visitors with small children a small activity packet (with crayons, pipe cleaners, stickers, etc.) as they enter worship.
Avoid all talk about money with visitors.
Keep the discussion of “family business” to a minimum in the services. Limit announcements.
Follow up with your visitors
Get the names and addresses of first-time visitors. Some churches use visitors’ cards, but asking ALL worshippers to record attendance makes it more likely visitors will sign. Visitors don’t want to be singled out.
Make a special effort to remember visitors’ names and call them by name.
Make at least one follow-up contact with first-time visitors within 24 to 36 hours of their visit — a letter from the pastor, a phone call, a hand-written note, an email message. Many churches deliver a gift, such as freshly baked cookies or a church coffee mug, to visitors’ homes. The purpose is to communicate friendliness, not get a membership commitment.
Develop a system or data base for keeping track of visitors, their contact information, and the frequency of visits. A mailing list of persons who have visited in the past is one of your best marketing tools.
Don’t overlook visitors who come to the church for the first time for an event other than worship.
Once someone has attended three times, they should be invited to join the church with a pastoral visit and/or an invitation to take part in an inquirers or new member class.
Encourage visitors to get connected with activities and groups, even if they are not ready to join.
Be more inviting
Hold an Open House Sunday at least once a year.
Organize a “bring-a-friend” Sunday at least once a year.
Extend extra hospitality during back-to-school time, Christmas and Easter, when persons are most likely to consider visiting a church.
Start a personal invitation ministry. Three out of four people attend a church for the first time because they were invited. Yet less than half of church members say they have invited someone in the last year.
Provide training to members on how to invite others to church.
Print special invitations to Christmas Eve services that people can deliver to friends.
Plan special events — concerts, lectures, etc. — that appeal to those outside the church and that members feel comfortable inviting someone to.
Have special recognition Sundays for scout groups, preschool families, or other community groups meeting in your church to encourage them to attend worship.
Become more aware of visitors and their concerns
Gather feedback on how visitors respond to your church through surveys, focus groups, or interviews.
Conduct a “welcome audit” annually.
Provide training on welcoming at least once a year.
Send your welcome team to visit other churches and report back on how they experienced their reception.
Learn to connect with your church’s neighbors through understanding, engagement, and service. This tool kit includes engaging videos, presentations, and supplemental materials you can use for self study or with groups in your church to help you reach new disciples. Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
Learn concepts and strategies to welcome and respond to your first-time and repeat visitors, reach younger generations, expand your church’s entry points, and get new people involved. The New Welcome Video Tool Kit helps you open your church to the transformative presence of new people — welcoming newcomers by acknowledging the changing ways that people enter into the life of churches. Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
Many churches have a one-size-fits-all approach to their stewardship appeal. Everyone in the congregation receives the same "Dear Friend" letter inviting them to prayerfully offer up their tithe to the church for the coming year. While this approach is simple and easy to execute, it's generally not the most effective or meaningful way to communicate with people about their giving. Read To the Point: Crafting Better Financial Commitment Messages.
Many churches have a one-size-fits-all approach to their annual stewardship appeal. Everyone in the congregation receives the same “Dear Friend” letter inviting them to prayerfully offer up their tithe to the church for the coming year. While this approach is simple and easy to execute, it’s generally not the most effective or meaningful way to communicate with people about their giving.
This approach ignores the reality that in every church there are people at various points along the journey toward becoming faithful stewards. Some may be life-long tithers. Some have given faithfully for years. Others have never made a financial contribution, much less a pledge. Approaching these different kinds of givers with the same appeal just doesn’t make sense from a spiritual or a developmental perspective.
When planning a commitment campaign, I generally think about several different categories of givers, each needing to hear a slightly different message.
Most generous givers or tithers.In every church, a small percentage of generous contributors provides a very significant proportion of what is given. These givers, above all else, deserve to be thanked. In all likelihood, they are the most prone to increase their giving, so it’s important to acknowledge how important their continued generosity is in sustaining the church’s ministry.
Pledgers with room to grow.These givers, too, deserve to be thanked. But they also need to hear how growing in giving will help them mature spiritually and connect them more meaningfully to God’s work in and through the church. Explain to them why it’s important to give in proportion to their income as they grow toward the goal of tithing or sacrificial giving.
People who contribute but do not pledge.These givers also deserve to be thanked, of course. But the message they need to hear is why it’s important to make a pledge — not because the church needs their pledge to build the budget — but because a pledge is a promise to themselves and to God that helps them be more faithful in the spiritual practice of giving.
Non-contributors.As shocking as it may seem, every church has a substantial cohort of people who don’t give at all. It makes little sense to ask these people to begin by giving ten percent of their income, or even by making a pledge. People almost invariably give before they become pledgers or tithers. So invite these people to support the church with a gift. Let them know of the good work their giving will support. Don’t shame or belittle them. Assume they are part of your church for a reason, and they just need a little encouragement to get started.
New members.If someone is new to your community and being asked to make a commitment for the first time, this is a wonderful opportunity to explain to them why church members are asked to pledge and how the commitment process works. The message can be welcoming and invitational in tone.
In addition to composing letters along these lines, it can be helpful to keep these categories in mind if your campaign plan involves group gatherings to discuss commitments. People won’t find it a bit odd to be in a meeting with other people whose relationship to the church is similar to their own, and they will appreciate hearing a message about giving that makes sense given their situation.
Yes, this means that the pastor or someone else needs to be paying attention to who’s who, where they are spiritually, and what they give. In fact, the need to communicate with people about their giving in meaningful and appropriate ways is one of the best arguments in favor of allowing responsible people proper access to giving records. [See To the Point: Should a Pastor Know what People Give?]
And yes, this approach takes more work. But it’s well worth it. Your church members are much more likely to think seriously about their giving to the church when they receive an appeal that meets them where they are, both spiritually and in terms of their giving history.
Dr. Ann A. Michel is associate director of the Lewis Center and lecturer in church leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary where she teaches stewardship classes.
What is Revelation really about? This 10-session study offers a faithful and credible Christian alternative to sensationalist perspectives on the Bible's teaching about the End Times. In God's Time is ideal for your congregation's small groups, adult Bible studies, and Sunday School classes.
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