Tending the Vine

TENDING THE VINE

A Few Words on Congregational Development from Canon Donald Vinson

Would you be willing to do just one thing to help grow your church?

If a congregation were to choose one step to make their congregation more welcoming to newcomers, the best choice would probably be NAMETAGS -- a freshly-made, single-use nametag for every church gathering.
A simple nametag makes a huge shift in the way a congregation presents itself to a newcomer. No longer is it a private club run for the comfort and benefit of the established members. Now it is a gathering of equals, all of whom can address one another by name, without distinction between ‘belongers’ and ‘visitors.’
But fight the impulse to make permanent nametags for members, hanging on a rack in the parish hall. First, people won’t actually put them on, so there they’ll hang. Second, they only serve to accentuate the un-belonging of the visitor, who doesn’t have one, and won’t, until someone deliberately has one made for her, which could take weeks. Single use ones level the playing field. There is no distinction between member and non-member. Make them fresh, as people arrive.
Yes, there will be some curmudgeons who won’t agree to wear one. Let them alone, no need to alienate them. In time, they’ll ask for one. Here’s a tip, though: let upper-elementary children be the ‘nametag czars.’ They will love to make the tags, and even the grouchiest curmudgeon will have trouble turning them down.
This one step alone will make a difference, over time, in the ability of the congregation to attract and retain new members. The experience might also lead church members to ask themselves a vital further question: What else can we do to make our church events less the exclusivist gatherings of insiders in the know, and more like celebrations of the risen Christ, designed to draw others to the light of His love?

The Main Thing

THE MAIN THING
We’ve had some superb conversations lately surrounding congregational development and church growth in the diocese. We all have more on our “to do” list than can be done in a year, all designed to make our congregations more welcoming, more hospitable, more sensitive to the needs of guests, more attractive, more diverse. At the bottom of it all is a strong urge to help them become more—BIG.
And there is nothing wrong with having a larger congregation. We sometimes make “big church” jokes and disparaging comments, defensively, as if big were bad. It isn’t.
But in all of this, we must not lose sight of the Main Thing—faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even sick congregations can grow, we’ve seen it all around us. They grow into larger sick congregations, until they split and start the process all over again. That isn’t what we aspire to.
If we focus our attention on getting closer to God, into becoming more and more the beautiful and loving creatures and congregations God longs for us to be, we will become more spiritually well. As such, we can grow, because we will be more attractive to other Christians who are spiritually well, or wanting to be. A large measure of that focus will be just paying close and prayerful attention to what happens on Sunday morning, asking the question, “does this draw us and others closer to Christ?”
In essence, that is the difference between church growth and congregational development: keeping the Main Thing the main thing.

Koinonea June

QUICK AND EASY CONGREGATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
If you could do one simple thing that would instantly induce your congregation, including guests, to linger at coffee hour and parish dinners, and increase by many times the familiarity of members with one another and their enjoyment of their time together, would you do it?
Good. Purchase a set of round tables for your parish hall or gathering space.
The ones with the white plastic tops are lighter in weight and seem to be durable. They also don’t cost a lot, and don’t necessarily require table-cloths to look good. A bonus is that they roll into place. What they do is encourage people to sit, and linger, because the people at a round table can actually talk to one another. At long, banquet tables, we can speak only to the person on either side of us—and pity the poor guy at the end. Round tables facilitate group interaction.
Don’t get rid of the old eight-foot banquet tables entirely, unless they needed to be replaced long ago because they are ugly and dangerous. (They make long ones with the white plastic tops, too.) We need long tables sometimes—for example, for discussion groups of more than eight, when we like to sit around the outer edges of a square of tables and have view of one another. That arrangement almost makes a big round table.
A key is to plan when to use which, and to set up the room for the occasion. I visited a congregation that had a rectangle of long tables with chairs around the outside, seating perhaps 20 people. Other chairs lined the walls of the room. Only half the people at coffee hour were able to sit at the tables, which had been arranged for the forum which gathered earlier. The rest had to sit all spread out in an environment as welcoming and conducive to interaction as Junior High Prom. It would take just five minutes for two people to break apart the rectangle and add several round tables to the mix so that everyone could be accommodated for the next—and critically important—event : post-Eucharist hospitality.
Come on, the church tables haven’t been new since 1957. It’s time to update! And when you do, think ROUND.
Donald Vinson
Canon for Congregational Development

Volley 8

V. I. P. Parking
Many of our churches have limited parking. Long-time members have figured out ways around that problem—they have found favorite places where they can count on a parking space for church. Guests and newcomers often have no such resources. They need special consideration to reward them for having the gumption to get up on a Sunday morning with the resolve to attend worship.
Why not designate a space or two close to the entrance, perhaps right next to the handicapped spaces, as guest parking? That lets them know right away that they are welcome and valued here, and that it is not just a club for the initiates.
One way to gain such a space is by removing the old “Reserved for Rector” sign. That was a nice gesture of appreciation for the priest. However, unless she has to rush in from leading worship moments earlier at another congregation, the priest is likely to be among the first to arrive, while choice spaces are still plentiful. That special designation may be unnecessary, and it may send an unintended message—that this is a clergy-centered and clergy-dominated congregation.
The Episcopal Church welcomes…whom?

Volley 7

ANOUNCEMENTS 101
Typical Sunday announcements at St. Wilbur in the Wildwood:
“I hope everyone will come to coffee hour after Eucharist in Wizzenheifer Hall.”
“All those youth interested in EYF, please meet with Mr. and Mrs. Hampton in the Narthex.”
“Training for new Acolytes will begin at the Chancel following the Postlude.”
“Don’t forget, we have meetings of EFM, ECW, Inquirers, and Vestry coming up this week.”

All of the above are perfectly informative—to anyone who already knows all about this congregation, its people, layout, and events. But what about those who are present for the first time, or who are relatively new in the congregation? What is Eucharist? Where is Wizzenheifer Hall? What do EYF, ECW, EFM, Inquirers, and Vestry mean? Am I invited? Who are the Hamptons? Where are the Narthex and the Chancel? Who is eligible for youth or acolyte groups? Announcements can be welcoming and inclusive, or they can serve to emphasize how uninformed and out-of-the-loop a newcomer is.
The perpetrators of these veiled statements may not be conscious at all of the hidden messages they contain. The result, however, is to keep the power of information in the hands of those who control communication in the group, and dole it out to those they choose to include. What is needed to break this unconscious screening process is mostly awareness of it, and the decision to welcome all who desire to be welcomed, and let the newcomer and the congregation discover one another.
I’m not sure announcements in church are useful in the first place. They seem to matter enormously to Wardens and Vestries, but my experience is that people don’t listen to them anyway, and if someone, clergy or lay, is allowed to drone on past the very low tolerance of the congregation, announcements can be an occasion for sin to the congregation, with the negative thoughts and comments they inspire. My personal preference would be to have a brief welcome and invitation announcement prior to worship, and expanded announcements at the coffee hour, where you reach the people who really want to know what is going on. They’ve been given in writing to everyone, after all. In any case, it behooves the one making announcements to remember: Be prepared. Be clear. Be brief. Be seated.

Volley 6

NOT ALL ABOUT MONEY
We hear people say that they “stopped going to that church, because all they ever heard was about money.” Must not have been an Episcopal congregation—we’re afraid ever to mention money! But the impression that many have is that if they go to church, they’ll be asked to open their wallet right away.
How about this announcement in the bulletin, or even spoken: “If you are our guest today, please don’t feel that you have to make a contribution at the offering time. Please let this time of worship be our gift to you.”
Anything that reduces the stress and uncertainty about a first visit to a church has to be a helpful thing.