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from How To Attract and Keep Active Church Members
by Donald Smith, 1992.
Donald Smith relates the following story:
On vacation our family worshiped in a little country church in a
new suburb. Two small boys greeted us in the parking lot. "You
don't belong here," they said defiantly.
I tried to explain. "We thought we'd like to visit
you," I said.
"We haven't seen you before," they insisted. This was their
church, and strangers were not welcome.
Adult church members would never think of giving a visitor such a
greeting. But many a visitor in many a church has felt the way those
little boys tried to make us feel. We did not belong. But belonging
is an essential ingredient in the retention of church members. And
the incorporation of visitors and new members into the
congregational life is critically important to their bonding.
Visitors must be courted
1. First impressions count - initial impulses toward belonging draw
people closer or make them feel more distant
2. "Every person wears a sign that says I need to feel
important!" Ushers need to take charge of visitors, calling them
by name. People in the church need to greet visitors by name.
3. New members (or even regular visitors) may be enlisted as greeters
and ushers. This way all might learn each others' names.
4. Ushers should offer to take visitors to "coffee hour" if
one is offered. The usher learns the interests of the visitor and
introduces the visitor to others that share the same interests.
5. Remember, some people prefer anonymity. Ushers and greeters need to
be sensitive to this possibility.
Churches can incorporate new members effectively by
1. caring about them as visitors,
2. carefully preparing them for membership,
3. clearly articulating high expectations for them,
4. clarifying their expectations of the church and staff,
5. enlisting their participation in activities beyond the Sunday
worship service,
6. identifying, developing, and using their gifts in significant
service,
7. giving them opportunities to shape the program,
8. providing diligent pastoral care (or lay pastoral care early
in their membership.
One visitor to a small church writes:
"At last I felt at home spiritually. After a couple of
visits, members called on the phone. I got three or four notes
welcoming me. "We were glad to see you," they would say.
There was no heavy recruitment. I felt welcomed out of an interest
and concern for me and not because they needed another member. Young
and old made me and my children feel at home."
Unity Prayer by Jane Parker Huber:
You have called us from division into unity and hope.
Each and all belong together in the world's kaleidoscope.
Help us listen to the voices daring us to be and do
What you plan for church and people, loving others, praising you.
Codex Sinaiticus New Testament: hard or softcover
 The
earliest, oldest New Testament text has finally been released to the
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you know Greek! To read it in English, you need the only
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The H. T. Anderson English
Translation of the Codex Sinaiticus, with the three extra early New Testament books
and the Sonnini Manuscript of Acts 29 included,
is now available only at
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Note:The
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Along with the Codex
Vaticanus,the Codex Sinaiticus is considered the oldest known
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Other True Names Translations
from www.Apostolia.us
I Khanokh - Sky-tripper: New translation of Enoch
Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve: with the Greek
Odes of Shalome: A new treatment of Odes of Solomon
Authentic Peter: The Recognitions of Clement
Kata Mattyah: Hebraic Matthew, New Translation
Epistle of Barnabas: the Greek and a new translation |
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