Hospitality.
It seems as if we have to pass the clipboard more often these days to encourage folks to sign up to serve as ushers and/or greeters on a Sunday morning. We’ve also been “advertising” for assistance in our coffee bar since I arrived almost a year ago.
All these roles (as well as others) are part of extending the hospitality of High Street UMC to not only visitors, but to one another. Almost every church believes it is “welcoming,” “warm,” “friendly,” or “hospitable.” But are we walking our talk? If you were a visitor to High Street UMC, would there be greeters at each entrance with smiles, ready to assist you with any questions you might have about where to go, to hand you a bulletin, and to make sure you truly felt welcome? Do we have volunteers ready and willing to collect our tithes and offering each week, so there’s no “mad scramble” at the time of the offering searching for people willing to help at the last minute? This is our time to give back to God a portion of what God has so generously provided first to us.
Perhaps we’re concerned we don’t know what we’re doing if we sign up for one of these roles. Our greeters arrive in time to be in place at 9:30am so they can hand out bulletins, direct people to the sanctuary, the restrooms, the parlor (for fellowship and refreshments before and after the service), answer any questions people might have (or help them find someone who can, if they don’t know the answers), and generally serve as a friendly first contact on behalf of the church. This position is mostly about being friendly.
Our ushers get to stretch their legs after the sermon as they go to the back of the sanctuary to get the collection plates, then move from the front to the back of the sanctuary to collect our tithes and offerings. Two ushers bring the offering forward to be blessed, and take it to the safe in the sacristy. We need extra ushers on bucket Sunday to collect the missional offering for that month.
Our coffee bar attendants arrive early on Sundays to help make and serve coffee to those who are looking for a little caffeine and fellowship before the Sunday service begins and after it’s over. They usually help with clean-up of the coffee area, while our fellowship team takes care of the rest of the clean-up.
While we’d love for you to sign up for one of these positions on a regular basis (once a month, or even more), doing it every now and then would be a big help. After all, everyone tells me they’d love to see more new people here. Putting that spirit of hospitality into practice helps to make that a greater possibility.