See You at the Welcoming Table!
Welcoming Team at a recent team meeting. Pictured (left to right): Cheryl Langin, Susan Thomson, Leslie Lahue, and Glenn Knight. Missing: Tami LePage
Hey, look at these smiling faces above…happily welcoming you to Simsbury United Methodist Church (SUM)! Whether you are a first-time visitor, relatively new, or a long-time church member, the Welcoming Team is there to greet you. We can answer questions about church happenings and events and help you connect with others who might have common interests. We say hello again to the new people we’ve met: Lara, Mark, Nancy, Allegra, Margaret, Taylor, Susan, Bill & Erin, Jacklyn, Jordan, Sandy, Valerie, Joe, Deb, and Sue.
Since October 2023 the Welcoming Team has been busy identifying the touch points with newcomers and implementing ways to make everyone who visits our church feel welcome. Here’s what we’ve been doing:
Welcoming Table in Wesley Fellowship Hall – We hope you’ve noticed the Welcoming Table situated beneath the monitor in Fellowship Hall. Here visitors can get information and ask questions about the church. We use the monitor to present a slideshow about the church. It includes information for newcomers, highlights our unique history here in Simsbury, and promotes our many programs and ministries. Members of the Welcoming Team are present most Sundays to greet visitors, respond to questions, and start to get to know them.
Connection Card Follow-up Calls – When a visitor completes a Connection Card it is passed on to Pastor Gene and Deacon Deb, who make the initial phone calls to the visitor. After that, the cards are forwarded to the Welcoming Team and one of the team members will also reach out to the visitor to welcome them and ask if they have further questions.
Greeters at Worship Services – The Welcoming Team believes having greeters at the front and side doors of the sanctuary is our first opportunity to make someone feel welcome when visiting the church in person. After a hiatus during the Covid-19 years, we are encouraging the reinstatement of greeters. A small-scale effort to have greeters at the 9:00 am service during Advent was well-received and we expect to expand that to both the 9:00 am and 10:30 am services for Lent. If you are inclined to be a greeter, please reach out to the Worship Committee.
Welcoming at Community-facing Events – We have opportunities to make guests feel welcome at community-facing events held at our church throughout the year. For example, in November the church hosted a “warming hut” for Simsbury Celebrates and provided soup in Wesley Hall. As part of that event, the Welcoming Team suggested that we use the Wesley Hall TV monitor to display information about upcoming Advent events and various church activities. Members of the team lit the path to the entrance with luminaria. The Welcoming Team and other church members had a wonderful time greeting the public.
We hope that the word is spreading that our church is a place where people can feel welcome and accepted. The Welcoming Team helps set that tone. We thank everyone in the congregation for their efforts in making visitors feel welcome. Let’s keep up the good work!
- Leslie Lahue, Welcoming Team Chairperson