Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
To be a vibrant Catholic Community
unified in its commitment
to growing disciples for Christ
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
Mob: 0417 279 437
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
Mob: 0437 521 257
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Jenny Garnsey
Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Parents are asked to contact the Parish Office to make arrangements for attending a Baptismal Preparation Session and booking a Baptism date.
Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.
Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a Pre-marriage Program
Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests
Reconciliation: Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am)
Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm – 5:45pm)
Care and Concern: If you are aware of anyone who is sick or in need of assistance in the Parish please visit them. Then, if they are willing and give permission, could you please pass on their names to the Parish Office. We have a group of parishioners who are part of the Care and Concern Group who are willing and able to provide some backup and support to them. Unfortunately, because of privacy issues, the Parish Office is not able to give out details unless prior permission has been given.
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Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Parish Prayer
Heavenly Father,
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
Amen.
Weekday Masses 21st – 24th November, 2017 Next Weekend 25th
& 26th November, 2017
Ministry Rosters 25th & 26th November, 2017
Devonport:
Piety Shop 25th Nov:
R McBain 26th Nov: P Piccolo
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Readings this week - Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
PREGO REFLECTION:
I pause often as I read, noting
how I am moved within.
To where, or to whom, do I feel drawn?
I may like to
ponder the talents I have been given.
What is my greatest, most precious gift?
I share this with the Lord.
Perhaps I can recall occasions when I have stored
up such gifts for myself.
Was I acting from fear ... dread ... lack of
initiative … or...?
How may the Lord be inviting me, even now, to make
confident use of resources so freely given?
I listen to the Lord and then
respond ...
As I end my prayer, I may like to speak out my gratitude for the
Lord’s wonderful gifts, and ask to know His deep peace.
Our Father...
Readings next week – Our Lord Jesus
Christ, King of the Universe
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 15th
– 21st November
Weekly
Ramblings
This week we have been on retreat and have been able to have
that time that allows us to reflect more deeply on our relationship with Jesus
and with you, my neighbour. It has also given me time to reflect on my role as
your Pastor and Priest. I know that there are times when I try to speak about
my passion and vision for our parish and I don’t always make my comments as
precise and concise as I would like. Sometimes I speak quickly and without
sufficient thought and consideration out of a frustration and some have
interpreted that as anger - I apologise if anyone has thought that my passion
is anger at any person or persons – it is passion and I can’t help my passion
for our Parish and its Vision.
Part of my personal frustration has come because I have
thought that I have expressed my ideas, explained what I feel to be important,
in a way that has been understood – and my reason for thinking like this is
because no-one has spoken to me about any issue or asked me for any further
explanation - sometimes they have spoken to others who later have come to me
but I don’t always even get that feedback.
Part of the hope for our Parish Forum (Next Steps)
gathering on 3rd December is that some of the ideas and directions
that our Parish Vision has opened up for us will be further shared and so this
is my invitation to you to come along and respond/react/challenge /embrace. It
will also be an opportunity for all of us involved in aspects of ministry in
our Parish to look at some of the questions we need to address if we are to
move forward.
Next weekend (26th) is our Whole of Parish Mass
to be celebrated at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone at 11am. It is a great
opportunity for us to gather as a Parish in one place as a sign of our faith
journey, to share food together and to enjoy each other’s company. It will also
be a chance to say bon voyage to Br Cris as he prepares to return to the
Philippines to prepare for his ordination in March 2018. I know I have said it
before but everyone is invited to be with us on Sunday 26th November
to celebrate the Feast of Christ the King and to celebrate being the Mersey
Leven Catholic Parish.
ADVENT LITURGY PREPARATION:
A THREAT TO OUR DECENCY
This areticle is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here
Jesus tells us that in the end we will be judged on how we dealt with the poor in our lives, but there are already dangers now, in this life, in not reaching out to the poor
Here’s how Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy, teases out that danger: “I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned. We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we condemn others.”
What needs to be highlighted here is what we do to ourselves when we don’t reach out in compassion to the poor. We corrupt our own decency. As Stevenson puts it: An absence of compassion corrupts our decency – as a state, as a church, as family, and as individuals. How so?
St. Augustine teaches that we can never be morally neutral, either we are growing in virtue or falling into vice. We never have the luxury of simply being in some neutral, holding state. There’s no moral neutrality. Either we are growing in virtue or sliding into virtue’s opposite. That’s true for all of life. A thing is either growing or it’s regressing.
So too with our attitude towards justice and the poor: Either we are actively reaching out to the poor and being more drawn into concern for them or we are unconsciously hardening our hearts against them and unknowingly sliding into attitudes that trivialize their issues and distance ourselves from them. If we are not actively advocating for justice and the poor, it is inevitable that at a point we will, with completely sincere hearts, downplay the issues of poverty, racism, inequality, and injustice.
It’s interesting to note that in the famous text on the final judgment in the Gospel where Jesus describes how God will divide the sheep from the goats on the basis of how they treated the poor, neither group, those who did it correctly and those who didn’t, actually knew what they were doing. The group who did it right state that they didn’t know that in touching the poor they were touching Christ; and the group who got it wrong protest that had they known that Christ was in the poor, they would have reached out. Jesus assures us that it doesn’t matter. Mature discipleship lies simply in the doing, irrespective of our conscious attitude.
And so we need to be alert not just to our conscious attitudes but to what we are actually doing. We can, in all sincerity, in all good conscience, in all good heart, be blind towards justice and the poor. We can be moral men and women, pious church-goers, generous donors to those who ask help from us, warm to our own families and friends, and yet, blind to ourselves, though not to the poor, be unhealthily elitist, subtle racists, callous towards the environment, and protective of our own privilege. We are still good persons no doubt, but the absence of compassion in one area of our lives leaves us limping morally.
We can be good persons and yet fall into a certain hardness of heart because of kindred, ideological circles that falsely affirm us. Within any circle of friends, either we are talking about ways that we can more effectively lessen the gaps between rich and poor or we are talking, however unconsciously, about the need to defend the gaps that presently exist. One kind of conversation is stretching our hearts; the other is narrowing them. Lack of compassion for justice and the poor will inevitably work at turning a generous heart into a defensive one.
We all have friends who admire us and send us signals that we are good, big-hearted, virtuous persons. And no doubt this is substantially true. But the affirmation we receive from our own kind can be a false mirror. A truer mirror is how those who are politically, racially, religiously, and temperamentally different from ourselves assess us. How do the poor feel about us? How do refugees assess our goodness? How do other races rate our compassion?
And what about the mirror that Jesus holds up for us when he tells us that our goodness will be judged by how we treat the poor and that the litmus test of goodness consists is how well we love our enemies?
An absence of compassion in even one area subtly corrupts the decency of a community, a state, a nation, and that eventually turns our generosity into defensiveness.
Drawing Empty Space
It’s difficult to see our True Self because it is so close
to us. We overly identify with our false self, our egoic ideas about who we
are, missing the forest for the trees, as it were. The True Self is hidden and
must be sought out. With practice, we can learn to see differently, to shift
our focus. This simple exercise plays with our usual way of perceiving reality
and invites an inner change in how we see ourselves, the world, and the Divine.
Sitting at a table with a pencil and a piece of blank,
unlined paper, look at a nearby object (for example, a vase of flowers, a
chair, a tree outside). Turn your attention to the empty or “negative” space
surrounding the object. Rather than focus on the object’s contours, look at the
lines and curves of the space butting up against the object, the places in
between and around the thing itself. Breathe deeply and begin to draw these
nooks and crannies of air and emptiness. Keep your focus on the “negative”
space as you draw.
You might draw all of the spaces around the object or spend
just a few moments drawing. When your pencil comes to a stop, observe the form
and detail of the “nothingness” you’ve drawn. Know that your True Self, though
perhaps less visible than ego and persona, is spacious and objective. Let your
inner witness quietly observe the “negative space” within yourself. Rest in
this abundant emptiness, full of Presence.
Reference:
5 THINGS TO CONSIDER ABOUT GETTING GUESTS BACK
This article is taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore. You can find the original blog here
Studies suggest that a first time guest in your church often makes up their mind if they’re ever coming back again in the first ten minutes.
So, that means before they’ve heard your music, listened to your message, or met your ministry team they might very well have given you a failing grade. Here are 5 things to consider when it comes to getting guests back.
A Bad Online Presence
Nobody is visiting your church who hasn’t already checked you out on line, so you might be losing visitors before they even visit. Is your site attractive and up to date? It must be. But also consider this: what is the experience of the site for a visitor…not a parishioner, a visitor?
Frustrating Parking
The next place you’re going to potentially lose them is also before they ever get in the front door: the parking lot. You need to carefully evaluate the experience of your parking lot…and not when its empty, at your peak times on Sunday morning. Perhaps you can’t do anything about the size of your parking, but you sure can do something about the experience of it. Is there a parking plan, parking ministers, clear signage?
And if there aren’t enough spaces, what strategies can you develop to create open spaces at optimal times (like getting regulars to park off campus).
Under-Greet or Over Greet Guests
Many churches say they’re friendly. But what they mean is they’re friendly to each other.
Unless you have a well-trained guest services team made up of people who love people, your first time guests will probably be under-greeted. Why? We all naturally talk to people we know, not to people we don’t know. First-time guests need an appropriate welcome, an acknowledgement that they have joined us. BUT, don’t go overboard with it. People who are new or coming back to church for the first time in a long time might want a little anonymity.
One rule that’s helped us is simply this: greet people the way they want to be greeted. Recruit emotionally intelligent guest services people who can sense if someone is an introvert and merely wants a ‘welcome’ or if a guest is an extrovert looking for a warm embrace and a conversation.
Do Nothing for My Kids
This is kind of counter-intuitive but it’s true. Visitors and new comers probably won’t avail themselves of your kids program, at least not their first few visits. They’re not comfortable enough, and neither are their kids. But, they will be very interested in what you’ve got for kids. Make sure information is easily available to guests.
Tired And Dirty Facilities
The problem with your church is the same problem you have with your house: you become blind to the flaws and imperfections. You’re blind to the frayed carpets, you stopped noticing the cracked tiles, even the odors in the bathroom and the nursery are lost on you. But not on your guests, not at all.
There needs to be someone on your staff, or volunteer team who is good at environments, and empowered to enforce high standards, every single weekend. Whatever your budget and whatever the condition of your facility, your bathrooms should be spotless, dry walls can be freshly painted in highly trafficked areas, trash can be properly collected, sidewalks can be power washed.
As regards creeping clutter (the kind that begins in a storage room or cabinet and creeps out and into every corner and crevice of your building) it is a bigger problem than you realize. Your clutter tells visitors that your junk, and whatever it is associated with in your past, is more important to you than they are. Get rid of it!
OK, so that’s the first ten minutes. Notice, we’re not even in the church yet?
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
Amen.
Weekday Masses 21st – 24th November, 2017 Next Weekend 25th
& 26th November, 2017
Monday: 1:00pm Devonport ...Mass Late M argaret Kenney
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe … St Cecilia Devonport
Thursday: 10:30am Karingal Sunday Mass: 11:00am Whole of Parish Mass
Friday: 11:00am Mt St
Vincent … Sts Andrew Dûng-Lac
& companions Sacred Heart Church, Ulv
Ministry Rosters 25th & 26th November, 2017
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: M Gaffney, H Lim
Ministers of Communion: Vigil:
M Heazlewood, B Suckling, M O’Brien-Evans, G Lee-Archer, M
Kelly, P Shelverton
Cleaners. 24th Nov: F Sly, M Hansen, R McBain 1st Dec: M.W.C.
Piety Shop 25th Nov:
R McBain 26th Nov: P Piccolo
Ulverstone:
Cleaners: K.S.C. Flowers: M Bryan
Penguin:
Greeters: S Ewing, J Garnsey Commentator: J Barker
Readers: M Murray, A Guest Ministers of Communion: S Ewing, J Garnsey
Liturgy: Sulphur Creek J Setting Up: S Ewing Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton
Readings this week - Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
First Reading: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30
PREGO REFLECTION:
I read the text prayerfully, asking the Lord to help me be
open to this familiar, but challenging parable.
I pause often as I read, noting how I am moved within.
To where, or to whom, do I feel drawn?
I may like to ponder the talents I have been given.
What is my greatest, most precious gift?
I share this with the Lord.
Perhaps I can recall occasions when I have stored up such gifts for myself.
Was I acting from fear ... dread ... lack of initiative … or...?
How may the Lord be inviting me, even now, to make confident use of resources so freely given?
I listen to the Lord and then respond ...
As I end my prayer, I may like to speak out my gratitude for the Lord’s wonderful gifts, and ask to know His deep peace.
Our Father...
I pause often as I read, noting how I am moved within.
To where, or to whom, do I feel drawn?
I may like to ponder the talents I have been given.
What is my greatest, most precious gift?
I share this with the Lord.
Perhaps I can recall occasions when I have stored up such gifts for myself.
Was I acting from fear ... dread ... lack of initiative … or...?
How may the Lord be inviting me, even now, to make confident use of resources so freely given?
I listen to the Lord and then respond ...
As I end my prayer, I may like to speak out my gratitude for the Lord’s wonderful gifts, and ask to know His deep peace.
Our Father...
Readings next week – Our Lord Jesus
Christ, King of the Universe
First Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Gospel: Matthew
25:31-46
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Rex Bates, Joseph Kiely, Victoria Webb, David Welch & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Ken Lowry, Margaret
Kenney, KelvinGreen, Rosalinda Reyes, Neville Parker, Efren Menalabag,
Bruce
Beard, John Novaski, Viv Crocker, Peter McCormick.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 15th
– 21st November
Terence
Smith, Freda Morgan, Joe Stolp, Terry Matthews, Edith Collis, Marie
Kristovskis, Maisie McLaren,
George
Carter, Frank Farruge, Shirley Bellchambers, David Cooper, James & Janet
Dunlop and all those named in our November Remembrance Book.
May they rest in peace
Weekly
Ramblings
This week we have been on retreat and have been able to have
that time that allows us to reflect more deeply on our relationship with Jesus
and with you, my neighbour. It has also given me time to reflect on my role as
your Pastor and Priest. I know that there are times when I try to speak about
my passion and vision for our parish and I don’t always make my comments as
precise and concise as I would like. Sometimes I speak quickly and without
sufficient thought and consideration out of a frustration and some have
interpreted that as anger - I apologise if anyone has thought that my passion
is anger at any person or persons – it is passion and I can’t help my passion
for our Parish and its Vision.
Part of my personal frustration has come because I have
thought that I have expressed my ideas, explained what I feel to be important,
in a way that has been understood – and my reason for thinking like this is
because no-one has spoken to me about any issue or asked me for any further
explanation - sometimes they have spoken to others who later have come to me
but I don’t always even get that feedback.
Part of the hope for our Parish Forum (Next Steps)
gathering on 3rd December is that some of the ideas and directions
that our Parish Vision has opened up for us will be further shared and so this
is my invitation to you to come along and respond/react/challenge /embrace. It
will also be an opportunity for all of us involved in aspects of ministry in
our Parish to look at some of the questions we need to address if we are to
move forward.
Next weekend (26th) is our Whole of Parish Mass
to be celebrated at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone at 11am. It is a great
opportunity for us to gather as a Parish in one place as a sign of our faith
journey, to share food together and to enjoy each other’s company. It will also
be a chance to say bon voyage to Br Cris as he prepares to return to the
Philippines to prepare for his ordination in March 2018. I know I have said it
before but everyone is invited to be with us on Sunday 26th November
to celebrate the Feast of Christ the King and to celebrate being the Mersey
Leven Catholic Parish.
Please take care on the roads and in your homes,
ADVENT LITURGY PREPARATION:
All those interested in assisting in the preparation of our
Advent liturgies are invited to meet this Sunday 19th November 2:30pm –
4:00pm at ‘Parish House’, 90 Stewart Street, Devonport. Phone Peter
0437 921 366 for further information.
OLOL CHURCH:
Mass of Christian Burial for the late Margaret Kenney will
be on Monday 20th November at Our Lady of Lourdes Church Devonport at 1pm.
WHOLE OF PARISH MASS:
There will be a barbecue lunch after the Whole of
Parish Mass at Ulverstone on Sunday 26th November. All
are invited to attend. It would be appreciated if you could please bring a
salad or sweet to share. If you are able to assist with preparations for
the lunch (setting up, serving etc.) please phone Rosemarie Baker 0408 123
586. Thank you.
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:
Spirituality in the Coffee Shoppe: Monday 27th November,
10:30am – 12 noon. Last one for
2017! See you there! All welcome! Phone: 6428:3095 Email: mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au
Thursday
Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down
7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 23rd November
– Merv Tippett & Tony Ryan.
A THREAT TO OUR DECENCY
This areticle is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here
Jesus tells us that in the end we will be judged on how we dealt with the poor in our lives, but there are already dangers now, in this life, in not reaching out to the poor
Here’s how Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy, teases out that danger: “I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned. We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we condemn others.”
What needs to be highlighted here is what we do to ourselves when we don’t reach out in compassion to the poor. We corrupt our own decency. As Stevenson puts it: An absence of compassion corrupts our decency – as a state, as a church, as family, and as individuals. How so?
St. Augustine teaches that we can never be morally neutral, either we are growing in virtue or falling into vice. We never have the luxury of simply being in some neutral, holding state. There’s no moral neutrality. Either we are growing in virtue or sliding into virtue’s opposite. That’s true for all of life. A thing is either growing or it’s regressing.
So too with our attitude towards justice and the poor: Either we are actively reaching out to the poor and being more drawn into concern for them or we are unconsciously hardening our hearts against them and unknowingly sliding into attitudes that trivialize their issues and distance ourselves from them. If we are not actively advocating for justice and the poor, it is inevitable that at a point we will, with completely sincere hearts, downplay the issues of poverty, racism, inequality, and injustice.
It’s interesting to note that in the famous text on the final judgment in the Gospel where Jesus describes how God will divide the sheep from the goats on the basis of how they treated the poor, neither group, those who did it correctly and those who didn’t, actually knew what they were doing. The group who did it right state that they didn’t know that in touching the poor they were touching Christ; and the group who got it wrong protest that had they known that Christ was in the poor, they would have reached out. Jesus assures us that it doesn’t matter. Mature discipleship lies simply in the doing, irrespective of our conscious attitude.
And so we need to be alert not just to our conscious attitudes but to what we are actually doing. We can, in all sincerity, in all good conscience, in all good heart, be blind towards justice and the poor. We can be moral men and women, pious church-goers, generous donors to those who ask help from us, warm to our own families and friends, and yet, blind to ourselves, though not to the poor, be unhealthily elitist, subtle racists, callous towards the environment, and protective of our own privilege. We are still good persons no doubt, but the absence of compassion in one area of our lives leaves us limping morally.
We can be good persons and yet fall into a certain hardness of heart because of kindred, ideological circles that falsely affirm us. Within any circle of friends, either we are talking about ways that we can more effectively lessen the gaps between rich and poor or we are talking, however unconsciously, about the need to defend the gaps that presently exist. One kind of conversation is stretching our hearts; the other is narrowing them. Lack of compassion for justice and the poor will inevitably work at turning a generous heart into a defensive one.
We all have friends who admire us and send us signals that we are good, big-hearted, virtuous persons. And no doubt this is substantially true. But the affirmation we receive from our own kind can be a false mirror. A truer mirror is how those who are politically, racially, religiously, and temperamentally different from ourselves assess us. How do the poor feel about us? How do refugees assess our goodness? How do other races rate our compassion?
And what about the mirror that Jesus holds up for us when he tells us that our goodness will be judged by how we treat the poor and that the litmus test of goodness consists is how well we love our enemies?
An absence of compassion in even one area subtly corrupts the decency of a community, a state, a nation, and that eventually turns our generosity into defensiveness.
Drawing Empty Space
This article is taken from the daily email published by Fr Richard Rohr OMI and the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the emails by clicking here
It’s difficult to see our True Self because it is so close
to us. We overly identify with our false self, our egoic ideas about who we
are, missing the forest for the trees, as it were. The True Self is hidden and
must be sought out. With practice, we can learn to see differently, to shift
our focus. This simple exercise plays with our usual way of perceiving reality
and invites an inner change in how we see ourselves, the world, and the Divine.
Sitting at a table with a pencil and a piece of blank,
unlined paper, look at a nearby object (for example, a vase of flowers, a
chair, a tree outside). Turn your attention to the empty or “negative” space
surrounding the object. Rather than focus on the object’s contours, look at the
lines and curves of the space butting up against the object, the places in
between and around the thing itself. Breathe deeply and begin to draw these
nooks and crannies of air and emptiness. Keep your focus on the “negative”
space as you draw.
You might draw all of the spaces around the object or spend
just a few moments drawing. When your pencil comes to a stop, observe the form
and detail of the “nothingness” you’ve drawn. Know that your True Self, though
perhaps less visible than ego and persona, is spacious and objective. Let your
inner witness quietly observe the “negative space” within yourself. Rest in
this abundant emptiness, full of Presence.
Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, A Spring Within Us: A Book of
Daily Meditations (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2016), 95-96.
5 THINGS TO CONSIDER ABOUT GETTING GUESTS BACK
This article is taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore. You can find the original blog here
Studies suggest that a first time guest in your church often makes up their mind if they’re ever coming back again in the first ten minutes.
So, that means before they’ve heard your music, listened to your message, or met your ministry team they might very well have given you a failing grade. Here are 5 things to consider when it comes to getting guests back.
A Bad Online Presence
Nobody is visiting your church who hasn’t already checked you out on line, so you might be losing visitors before they even visit. Is your site attractive and up to date? It must be. But also consider this: what is the experience of the site for a visitor…not a parishioner, a visitor?
Frustrating Parking
The next place you’re going to potentially lose them is also before they ever get in the front door: the parking lot. You need to carefully evaluate the experience of your parking lot…and not when its empty, at your peak times on Sunday morning. Perhaps you can’t do anything about the size of your parking, but you sure can do something about the experience of it. Is there a parking plan, parking ministers, clear signage?
And if there aren’t enough spaces, what strategies can you develop to create open spaces at optimal times (like getting regulars to park off campus).
Under-Greet or Over Greet Guests
Many churches say they’re friendly. But what they mean is they’re friendly to each other.
Unless you have a well-trained guest services team made up of people who love people, your first time guests will probably be under-greeted. Why? We all naturally talk to people we know, not to people we don’t know. First-time guests need an appropriate welcome, an acknowledgement that they have joined us. BUT, don’t go overboard with it. People who are new or coming back to church for the first time in a long time might want a little anonymity.
One rule that’s helped us is simply this: greet people the way they want to be greeted. Recruit emotionally intelligent guest services people who can sense if someone is an introvert and merely wants a ‘welcome’ or if a guest is an extrovert looking for a warm embrace and a conversation.
Do Nothing for My Kids
This is kind of counter-intuitive but it’s true. Visitors and new comers probably won’t avail themselves of your kids program, at least not their first few visits. They’re not comfortable enough, and neither are their kids. But, they will be very interested in what you’ve got for kids. Make sure information is easily available to guests.
Tired And Dirty Facilities
The problem with your church is the same problem you have with your house: you become blind to the flaws and imperfections. You’re blind to the frayed carpets, you stopped noticing the cracked tiles, even the odors in the bathroom and the nursery are lost on you. But not on your guests, not at all.
There needs to be someone on your staff, or volunteer team who is good at environments, and empowered to enforce high standards, every single weekend. Whatever your budget and whatever the condition of your facility, your bathrooms should be spotless, dry walls can be freshly painted in highly trafficked areas, trash can be properly collected, sidewalks can be power washed.
As regards creeping clutter (the kind that begins in a storage room or cabinet and creeps out and into every corner and crevice of your building) it is a bigger problem than you realize. Your clutter tells visitors that your junk, and whatever it is associated with in your past, is more important to you than they are. Get rid of it!
OK, so that’s the first ten minutes. Notice, we’re not even in the church yet?
Francis of Assisi: A gospel way of life
Brian Purfield is a member of the Mount Street Jesuit Centre team and teaches short courses in theology. Here he explores Francis of Assisi’s unique way of witnessing to the gospel and embracing its challenges.
The figure of Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) has always captured the imaginations of people from all walks of life: Christians and Muslims, royalty and prime ministers, rich and poor, intellectuals and workers, philosophers and theologians, poets and novelists, artists and filmmakers, historians and sociologists, peacemakers and environmentalists, people of all religions or none. Now, for the first time, we have a pope that has chosen the name ‘Francis’.
Shortly after his election, Pope Francis was asked why he had chosen this name. He replied that during the conclave he was seated next to his friend, the Brazilian Cardinal Cláudio Hummes. When it became clear that the cardinals had elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio to be pope, Cardinal Hummes embraced his friend and said: ‘Don’t forget the poor!’ It was at that moment that the newly-elected Pope thought of St Francis of Assisi who was, he said ‘a man of peace, a man of poverty, a man who loved and protected creation.’
You can read the rest of this article taken from the Thinking Faith website by clicking here
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