102nd church joins list of certified
welcoming congregations Jan. 24

First UMC, Pflugerville, became the 102nd certified welcoming congregation in the Southwest Texas Conference Jan. 24.
Two other congregations renewed their welcoming certifications Jan. 23 for the second straight year:
> First UMC, New Braunfels, San Antonio District.
> Lake Travis UMC, Lakeway, Austin District.
Welcoming certification must be renewed annually.
Southwest Texas has the most certified welcoming congregations of any conference in the United States.
The count of welcoming congregations by district now stands at Austin, 19; Corpus Christi, 16; Kerrville, 15; McAllen, 21; San Angelo, 7; San Antonio, 15; and Victoria, 9.
Granted by the General Commission on Communication, certification means a congregation has systematically evaluated its hospitality and intentionally embraced a lifestyle of welcoming newcomers.
Conference Lay Leader Jay Brim called on district lay leaders last June to help current welcoming congregations renew their certifications.
Brim challenged district lay leaders to inspire at least half the remaining churches in their districts to be certified before the June 6-9 annual conference session in Corpus Christi.
The certification program is part of the denominationwide Igniting Ministry hospitality and image campaign. The goal is to help congregations do a better job of relating to visitors and encouraging them to return.
Certified congregations earn a plaque and a special designation in the “Find a church” database at www.unitedmethodist.org.
To be certified, congregations must qualify for at least 100 points on a yearly checklist of welcoming activities. Those activities include designating a welcoming coordinator, training church members in welcoming techniques and doing various things around the church to make it more welcoming to visitors.
For recertification, welcoming congregations must tally an additional 100 points doing things they didn’t do the first year.
Checklists are available at ignitingministry.org or umcswtx.org.
District superintendents must sign each checklist to confirm the information reported.