Attention to hospitality improves witness by UMs

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
The congregation where Southwest Texas Conference Lay Leader Jay Brim’s daughter was baptized began in the 1950s on a tiny section of ground with no room for expansion.
Still, St. John’s UMC, Austin, has lived a story of success.
About seven years ago, the 919-member congregation began dealing with the changing nature of its neighborhood, Brim said. It had once been an upscale neighborhood but had slowly declined by the 1990s.
At the same time, Brim said, the church’s senior pastor suffered a stroke. St. John’s was losing members, declining from 1,800.
Being certified as a welcoming congregation has changed things, he said.
Brim visited his old church on Mother’s Day last year and admitted surprise at the welcome he received.
“I was blown away by the way we were welcomed,” Brim said. “There’s always a little bit of fanfare with leadership. But I observed this happening with everybody who came in. The next week, I got four cards from that church. Two were from people who had no clue that I held an office in the conference.
“It really impressed me. The (welcoming congregation) program doesn’t change everyone in a church, but it sure helps the leadership to be active in looking for ways to build. It gives structure to what they’re trying to do to bring a congregation out of its shell and make it more of an intentionally welcoming group.”
Pastors and leaders throughout Southwest Texas agreed that attaining welcoming congregation certification had transformed their churches, turning gazes outward instead of inward. Attention to intentional hospitality had made church members more effective witnesses to God’s love and grace.
“(Welcoming congregation certification) has helped reverse decline in some churches in a real tangible way,” said the Rev. Kim Cape, Austin District superintendent, who pushed for certification in many McAllen District congregations while superintendent there. “The McAllen District statistics are the best in the conference for professions of faith. It’s making a big impact.”
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With 102 certified welcoming congregations—29 percent of the 344 local churches in Southwest Texas—the conference has the most of any conference in the United States.
The certification program, which began in 2001, is part of the denominationwide Igniting Ministry hospitality and image campaign. Churches with the certification earn a plaque and a special designation in the “Find a Church” database at www.unitedmethodist.org.
To earn or maintain certification, congregations must amass 100 points each year on a checklist of welcoming activities. Those include designating a welcoming coordinator and team, completing welcoming training using Igniting Ministry resources, participating in September’s Open House Month, setting up a welcoming center, keeping a guest registry, sending a church newsletter to visitors and building a Web site friendly to nonmembers.
Many pastors of welcoming congregations reported that their congregations already were doing many activities listed on the checklist. Nevertheless, the certification process helped make the ministry of hospitality more intentional and coordinated.
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Associate Pastor Karen Horan of First UMC, New Braunfels, said the 153-year-old congregation focused on improving its signage, offering guest-friendly information materials about church programs, sending out mailers and submitting information to the local newspaper.
The church, she added, had never been consciously welcoming but became more so as members walked through the certification process.
“It has simply given us an opportunity to talk about hospitality and outreach and the ways we need to be open,” said Horan, who has led the new Gruene UMC since September. “The older congregations get, the more possibility they have of becoming more inward than evangelistic.
“The more we talk about being friendly, the more friendly we are. This program reminds us that we need to continue to think beyond the walls of the church and the people who are not yet here.”
Ralph Eckwall, chairman of the evangelism committee at Crestview UMC, Austin, said earning welcoming certification in 2005 made a big difference in his congregation.
Crestview’s membership fell by 41 members from 2004 to 2005, he said.



Crestview participated in Open House Month in 2005, and more than 100 people attended a church picnic, Eckwall said. Sixty percent of the visitors came because church members had posted banners and yard signs to advertise the event.
The church had 15 people take Igniting Ministries’ greeter training, he said. Crestview is setting up an interactive Web site that will allow visitors to participate in surveys, view church calendars and provide feedback.
Dripping Springs UMC is currently applying for the certification and is evaluating what members should do to be more welcoming, said Associate Pastor Richard Selky.
Church leaders have tabbed one item they believe could make a difference: following up with first- and second-time visitors, finding out what their needs are and figuring out how the church might address them.
“We’re really doing a number of things on the welcoming checklist, just in a disorderly fashion,” Selky said. “Right now we’re getting our arms around the process and seeing where we’re strong, where we’re weak and changing where we could be doing better.
“God is already working in this church. There are people who are being drawn here every week. Still, we can have the best music and preach the best sermons, but if people don’t feel welcome, they’re not going to come back, or we’ll lose them over time.”
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Pastors report that going through the certification process changes their congregations in dramatic ways.
The Rev. Cathe Evins, associate pastor of First UMC, McAllen, said the best thing certification has done for her church is “raise the awareness of being hospitable to people.”
Cape said that’s part of the program’s intention.
“Every church believes it’s friendly,” she said. “What the welcoming designation process does is it looks at our actual practices. And then, if we’re self-reflective, we can see the ways in which we can improve the way we welcome our guests. This process provides churches with specific ways they can improve.”
Cape said she is pushing the Austin District to catch up with the McAllen District in the number of welcoming congregations. The Austin District count stood at 19 last week. McAllen District has 21.
Selky, who used to serve at Los Fresnos UMC in the McAllen District, said that congregation saw increasing membership as a result of its welcoming designation. That proves the importance of welcoming.
“We’re already a community center,” Selky said of Dripping Springs UMC. “Our church is used all the time for community events and church events. (Being certified) will help people know what’s going on here at the church and give them much more up-to-date information about what we do here and how they can serve.
“And we hope it makes disciples for Christ.”
The Rev. Barbara J. Ruth, Corpus Christi District superintendent, said she expects all the churches in her district to become welcoming congregations—because she has seen the positive results.
“I’m speaking as a pastor, not as a district superintendent,” Ruth said with a chuckle. “Pastors and churches can sometimes have this attitude of, ‘Well, we’re here. They’ll find us.’ That’s why we’re in the declining situation we’re in in many of our communities.
“This (welcoming emphasis) is the absolute least thing we can do to demonstrate that our doors are open. This is the first step to me. It’s the first step to having the awareness that we can’t just sit in our corners and think they’ll come to us.”
The Corpus Christi District is going through a congregational transformation process, said Cheryl Worley, district program director. The process is designed to show how friendly district churches really are and what they can do differently.
“We sit around in our churches and get comfortable, and we forget about the picture we present to the outside world,” Worley said. “We can’t ever get so comfortable in a church that we think we’re perfect.
“We need to wonder what our presence is in the community and how the community views us. If we just walked around our area and asked if they knew where the United Methodist church was, would they know? And if we weren’t here, would we be missed?”
Evins said First UMC, McAllen, has received feedback cards that say it is “the friendliest church” visitors have ever attended.
“People say they felt welcomed,” she said. “This congregation prides itself on being a welcoming congregation. It’s done a lot for the church.”
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Cape said she believes welcoming congregation certification holds an important spot in the future of The United Methodist Church.
“If more churches were welcoming congregations, we wouldn’t be seeing the membership losses,” she said. “The job of the district and the conference is to give churches the tools they need to make disciples for the transformation of the world.
“The more welcome people feel, the more likely they are to come back. And our goal is for them to meet, know and serve Jesus Christ.”