Mt Zion UCC

Want to see the viewpoint of an newcomer visiting a church for the first time? See Open Letter to Churches Seeking New Members for some tips on how churches (and their welcoming teams!) might want to behave.

Someone suggested to me that people who are visiting Mt Zion for the first time may be a tad fragile, emotionally. The suggestion came based on the psychological observation that people tend to stay in the same habits unless something happens to break their routine. So someone suddenly looking for a church might be going through or recently experienced the death of a loved one or a divorce. (Or a move or the birth of a child, which aren't as emotionally devastating but also act as events to trigger habit changes.)

Not sure what brilliant ideas to take from this, other than being nice to our first-time guests. Which we should be anyway.

Note from Sherry Dunbar:

Went well.

Just a had a little trouble with the elevator. But I plan on testing my skills every Sunday with it. I'll ride it up and back down just to become more familiar with it.

Just have to reiterate what you mentioned, you have to be flexible. You can start at one position, but it depends on the funeral director and how many they have helping, you may have to switch roles.

BTW, with Kris not being there Friday or Monday, and this being a last minute thing as funerals are, the doors were not unlocked. Guy was stationed down at bottom stairs to let people in. And the doors to the fellowship hall was propped with a wedge.

But I'm sure the pastors are working on getting up-to date on how to recode the doors as needed so that should be a non-issue in the future.
Sherry D~

Things we learned from recent bad weather:

• When the front area is icy, the side door person needs to put on a coat and station herself/himself at the front door. The idea is to be able to jump out and help someone get out of the car and get up the one step without falling. People coming in the side door will need to get their own bulletins (or ask a fellow Welcome Team member not on duty to help out).
• Salt is down by the Fellowship Hall door. Grab a cup (or two) from the kitchen, fill it with salt, and hit the patches by the doors that happen when the day before has been warm enough to melt and the night cold enough to freeze.
  

This was actually a two-part event: a viewing on Friday and a visitation/funeral on Saturday. Les & Doris Loucks handled the Friday evening duties, and Nancy and Jeff Sleeger and Jack Herlocker handled Saturday morning.

Note from Les:

Hi Jack
 
This evening went fine.
A hint that would help: Cathy told me the family wanted people to enter thru the social hall. I made signs inside and out. I threw the outside signs away before she told me they want to enter there for Saturday. I taped outside signs on folding chairs. (you will need to make them unless you have enough outside people)
Inside signs are still up. They (Funeral Director) will have 2 people to direct traffic for funeral procession outside.
 
She also said there is another event tomorrow at noon in Social Hall, so some coordination needs to be done.
The family really appreciated having us there!!
 
Peace
Les

Les' signs were helpful on Saturday as well, although for the most part people needed personal directing (non-Mt Zion members didn't know where to go, while members thought they knew where to go). The "other event" on Saturday turned out to be a lunch with entertainment. Twenty minutes before the funeral service was supposed to start, a 20-passenger minibus with a trailer pulled up in front of the Fellowship Hall door and discharged a team of youngsters, who proceeded to unload a mess of gear (including speakers and stage gear) quickly and efficiently. If the funeral attendance had been larger it could have been bad (since attendees were supposed to come through the same door), but in this case it worked out.

Lessons Learned:

• Signs are good. Even quick temporary signs.
• If you only have one Welcome Team person at a funeral, put him/her at the top of the stairs. Nancy sorted people into "here for viewing"/"staying for funeral" and directed them to coat racks and hand-outs and the viewing area as appropriate.
  
• The funeral home's crew appreciates knowing the church has people who can help. Coordinate with them beforehand so both groups know what is happening.
  
• Get to a funeral and be in place early. People started arriving 20 minutes before the scheduled start.
• The current name tags and Welcome Team tags do not hold up well to weather and wind.
• The outside member needs to stand away from the door to maximize visibility (even if it's cold and windy). The funeral home team in the parking lot pointed people to "the gentleman down there," which helped everybody.
• Sometimes the unexpected happens. Roll with it.

Comment from Nancy Sleeger:

I don't know who determines where people enter for funerals/viewings but I think with such an elderly crowd it may have been better to enter our main entrance. It seemed a long walk & then the steps and  many people appeared to be short of breath even though we told them they could be dropped at the front. The flow is a difficult one to figure out but maybe we could hash that out; certainly we need to avoid a crowded narthex.  

These are ideas and suggestions from people about how the Welcome Teams can operate better. If your idea isn't listed, I apologize and ask you to please tell me again (emails are great because I can flag them to remind me).

Extra garb for extra attention. Several people have suggested aprons for Welcome Team members (guys, think Home Depot-type work aprons, not frilly kitchen aprons). Guy Wenck suggested elf hats for people helping at the Advent Faire, and elf hats were on sale at Dollar General, soooo...

Once a Welcome Team member, always on duty. Bonnie Murphy thinks it's important for people not to have a "I'm not on the Welcome Team this week, so I don't have to be extra welcoming" attitude. What if you were coming to Mt Zion the second time, and the person with the Welcome badge who was so sweet to you the week before acts like he never saw you before in his life? How would you feel? 

You want to come in THIS DOOR! Leon Hartman suggested buying a couple "WELCOME!" banners on poles to put up at the entrances we want people to use for an event. Remember, every week we may have one or two or three people who are at Mt Zion for the first time; for special events like the Advent Faire that might be a dozen or more people, and at a wedding or funeral it might be most of the attendees! Leon's concept would be highly mobile and the sort of thing one person could put up and take down quickly (yes, another job for the team leader or worship tech, but it wouldn't be hard). A quick look at websites didn't turn up anything decent, so if anyone knows a local business or a website that does these sort of things, please email jherlocker@me.com.

Untrained does not mean unwilling to serve! Someone mentioned to Deb Herlocker that he hasn't been able to be at a Welcome Team training session, but he thinks it would be great to be on a Sunday Welcome Team because it would let him meet more Mt Zion folks. But nobody ever asks him! So if you know (or if you are) someone like that, email jherlocker@me.com and and I will add his/her/your name to the Welcome Team list.

Updated 03/11/2012. Download a PDF version (better for printing!) here.