Churches seek welcoming certification

Effort seen as one way
to help reverse 2-year
membership decline

By Claudia M. Williams
Staff Writer
The Rev. Kim Cape issued a prophecy in June. She described how the Southwest Texas Conference could end two years of membership and worship-attendance losses.
“Bishop,” Cape said during an address to the June 1-4 annual conference session, “if each district will have at least half of their churches be certified as welcoming congregations by next annual conference, we can change this negative momentum.”
With those words, the McAllen District superintendent brought to the entire assembly in Corpus Christi a challenge that conference Lay Leader Jim Brim had issued to laity: to have at least 200 conference churches certified as welcoming congregations by the 2006 session.
Since June, six Southwest Texas congregations have earned welcoming certifications from the General Commission on Communication. That brings the total—as of last week—to 17.
Southwest Texas has more certified welcoming congregations than any other conference in the eight-state South Central Jurisdiction.
Thirteen of the 17 certified Southwest Texas congregations are in the McAllen District. The other four are in the Victoria District.
Those numbers are expected to change as churches that have committed to Brim to becoming welcoming congregations—75 as of Aug. 1—follow through.
“Becoming a welcoming congregation under the guidelines we’ve worked out with United Methodist Communications only kicks a congregation into gear, to energize the congregation to do things that need to be done to welcome strangers,” said Brim, a member of Westlake UMC, Austin. “There’s much, much more.
“Some of the best thinkers today working to energize congregations like to use the word ‘transforming.’ I believe becoming a welcoming congregation transforms the congregation.”
Certification, which must be renewed annually, means a congregation has systematically evaluated its hospitality and intentionally embraced a lifestyle of inviting and welcoming newcomers. The certification program is part of the denomination-wide Igniting Ministry hospitality and image campaign.
To earn certification, congregations must qualify for at least 100 points on a yearly checklist of welcoming activities. Those include having a designated welcoming coordinator, training church members in welcoming techniques and doing various things around the church to make it more inviting to visitors.
District superintendents must sign each checklist to confirm the information reported.
For First UMC, Bastrop, keeping the promise to become certified as a welcoming congregation starts with treating everyone who comes through the doors as an important person.
“You always remember those moments when you walk into the church the first time,” said Mike Wedding, lay leader of the 479-member Bastrop congregation. “Regardless of church size, it’s always awkward.”
Newcomers want to see a friendly face as well as have their spirits fed, he said.
“We made a close examination of ourselves (to apply for certification),” he said. “We know we do a better job of welcoming people at some times, not so good at other times. Not just at one service but at each service, we have to make the effort to welcome everyone.”
Wedding said the Bastrop church is intentionally taking the steps listed in the welcoming congregations criteria, a number of them to foster hospitality.
Bastrop churchwomen have begun a “grass-roots movement to ensure people in the church welcome visitors and each other before and after services,” Wedding said. “They call it the MOCHA ministry—Ministry of Offering Christian Hospitality to All.”
Church leaders like Wedding will be instrumental in a conferencewide intentional effort to certify congregations as welcoming, Brim said. The process has to be led by the laity.
“I want lay leaders and (church) council chairpersons to get their committees active and involved,” Brim said. “There’s a little bit of fire going, and we have to feed it. That’s a leadership job that falls to the laity.”
Also preparing to submit its welcoming congregation application is 5,349-member University UMC, San Antonio.
Like many other congregations, both large and small, University UMC is “doing everything on that (certification) list—and more,” said the Rev. J. Michael Lowry, senior pastor.
“Pursuing certification,” he said, “is a witness to the importance of the program. This opens the doors to deeper conversation about Christ and our commitment to the church.
“To talk about the love of God begins in sharing that love through welcoming others. If you can’t say hello to everyone who walks in the door, then to say you love Jesus means nothing.”
Brim said, “Jesus gave us a very short roadmap of what we’re supposed to do, and that includes welcoming the stranger. That is how Jesus told us to love our neighbors. How much more important is it to do that in our own churches?”
Cape said, “The challenge is to shift our focus from not only meeting our own needs but reaching out to people who are seeking a place to belong and who are wanting the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.”

Find welcoming congregation certification information at http://www.ignitingministry.com/welcoming/welcoming_default.aspx