How to Invite Newcomers and Incorporate Them
If we are to be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus, we will need to do more than wait for people to join us in the pews. There is nothing in Jesus’ teaching that recommends that approach. But by word and example, Jesus taught those who follow him to go and tell and to invite others to come and see. Here are some steps your congregation can take to be faithful to this call:
Personal Invitation
Those who attend your church now making a personal invitation to friends and co-workers are the best way for you to connect with new people. But this is most true for those who are new to your church. Newcomers know a whole new group of people to invite who may not yet have heard of your church. Teaching in newcomer classes on the importance of invitation and talking through ways to do this, combine this together with teaching the five-minute rule (that those who attend the church should give the first five minutes after church to meeting new people, before turning to talk to those they already know). Doing this raises the awareness with those new to your congregation and in so doing extends the reach of your church. In support of this, creating an attractive brochure to share, or printed invitations to Christmas and Easter services make the invite even easier.
Printed Invitations
Sending out invitations to those with changes of address is a great way to reach those most likely to be looking for a new church. There are mailing services found online that will sell changes of address information. Real Estate agents should have access to this information for free. Sending out a card with an invitation to join you for worship is a way to make a direct connection with those who may be shopping for a church.
The Bishop and I have gone out with the Rev. Joshua Varner, knocking on doors in Pooler and handing out invitation to worship at St. Patrick’s. They are blessed with a lot of new housing within a mile of the church and have tried the direct approach to contacting their neighbors.
Hospitality and Incorporation
But no matter what you do to invite people to your church, it is hospitality and newcomer incorporation which connect people to your congregation. Get the invitation right and this wrong and your church will not grow. Skip all of the above and get this right and you can still grow. Put it all together and you set the stage for numeric growth in attendance. I have found that when we do all we can to prepare to welcome new people, the Holy Spirit speaks to hearts and minds and new people start showing up. For in the end, all we are discussing is not about the church alone, but about the church as a means of connecting people more closely to God through the local church, and this is not something we do alone, but an activity in which we join with what God is already doing in the lives of the people we want to reach.
Celebrate the Gift of Hospitality
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Incorporating Visitors
Once newcomers have arrived, have those who greet them encourage signing in the guestbook. This will get a physical address and an email address and phone number. It is a best practice for each visitor to get a letter from the Vicar or Rector within a few days of the visit. One other contact is also a best practice. For some congregations, this means “mugging” the newcomer by having a couple of people on a hospitality committee drop by with a coffee mug in a bag with a brochure and the most recent newsletter. Other congregations take fresh baked bread. Still others rely on a phone call. Whatever you choose to do, make sure it is a low impact contact. Whether dropping something by or making a call, it should only be a brief visit in which it is clear that something is being dropped off with no expectation. We want to balance being in contact, with seeming to attack.
Newcomers who come back a couple of times should be encouraged toward a newcomers’ class or meeting. Whatever your church uses to do this, it should be made clear how someone can get more involved in your church in a way meaningful to them.
The Good News
Worry about giving and giving will decrease. Worry about attendance and that too will lessen. Instead, try lifting up the virtue of taking on these practices of hospitality because that is how Christians are to behave and leave the results to God. The Good News is that every congregation should already be doing all it knows how to do to reach out to others and invite them in. This is what we are to do, not for the sake of growing a church or even maintaining the status quo. We are to invite and welcome for the sake of the Gospel.
There will be few, if any, people in your community looking for an Episcopal Church. But everywhere you go, everyone you meet needs, deeply needs, a relationship with God as found in Jesus Christ. For some in your community, that will only happen with integrity when they find their way to come and worship with your congregation. Making the invitation, being hospitable to those who come and incorporating them into the Body of Christ is simply living into who we are to be as followers of Christ.
The Rev. Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary
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