How many newcomers or visitors come to your church in a given year? If you have any above zero then what I am about to say is of vital importance to you. Because it is not the number of newcomers or visitors that is the important figure, it is the number who come back or with whom we keep in contact. 

I am not aware of too many churches of which it could be said that they have retained, or even maintained a link, with every newcomer who came through their doors.

In fact, when people became aware that Evangelism Ministries had been requested by the Mission Board to prepare a new resource for improving the welcoming ministry in our churches, two things would happen:

1. They regaled us with their own personal experiences of bad "welcoming' they personally experienced, or

2. They immediately placed an order for this material. The first was placed at the last Synod when Les Gray foreshadowed this project.

Unless a local church produced its own "in house' version of training the only other available resource, to date, has been Peter Corney's helpful booklet.

You might think that nothing more is required. As the proof-reader of this new resource remarked as they were going through the initial draft, "I thought this was a little over the top, but as I've been reading it " this is really good!" Our first convert!

Well, then, what is it? What is Welcome?

- It is an attempt to open the front doors of church as wide as possible and to prevent people sliding out the back door for the wrong reason. It's not about getting people onto a roster.

- It provides a way of changing the culture of your church. It's not about finding a friendly person and asking them to hand out leaflets.

- It will train people to think of welcoming as an overarching activity. It will not allow us to think that it's someone else's responsibility.

- It leads the person in charge of the "Welcoming' Ministry at your church in a comprehensive step-by-step process using an interactive DVD with a simple workbook for both the Ministry Leader and members of the Welcome Team. It does not expect any church to employ all of the suggestions.

- It is suitable for congregations and churches of all sizes. It is not just for the so-called "well-heeled' big church with 100's of visitors. It would be ideal for both cathedrals and church plants.

- It is all to do with training which is Biblical, careful and deliberate.

Let me tell you how it works:

1. The Team Leader's Manual - this contains clear directions for setting up or, if necessary, reviving a Welcoming Ministry in your church.

2. The Member's Manual which is linked to that of the Leader's - this contains places for note taking and questions for discussion.

3. The DVD - This contains contains short promotional video to be shown to your congregation which will help them understand what is meant by a "Welcoming Church'.

Click here to tune in to the beginning of the first session (Session 1- segment 1).

This video commences the first of four separate sessions in which the Team Members work though such issues as:

"¢ preparing the environment into which people are welcomed
"¢ exterior and interior aspects of your venue
"¢ publicity and materials
"¢ who should be on the Welcoming Team and who should not
"¢ how to talk with people
"¢ how to follow people up.

The DVD even has role plays showing "the good, the bad and the ugly' of church welcoming.

We have produced this resource with this simple instruction in mind: assume nothing! We know that churches are busy places and sometimes quality is lost for the sake of brevity or speed. This resource package is designed so that the Senior Minister can nominate an experienced person as Welcome Team Leader and then hand over all of the material to him or her, confidently assured that the end result will be a good.

It is harder for the Senior Minister to use it as there are no pictures or simple drawings to colour in. ;)