Our churches are often filled at Easter as we welcome many people who otherwise never come. Some studies have shown that most of our visitors at Easter actually have a relationship – historic or otherwise – with a church. Others, perhaps with great spiritual longing, decide that Easter would be a good time to investigate. How should we greet the newcomer in the name of the risen Christ? Here are some thoughts and practical suggestions:
SEEING THE RISEN CHRIST IN EASTER VISITORS
1. First things first: Make sure your voicemail announcement and website give the correct times of your services – and directions to the church. Be concise, but include a special greeting to newcomers and visitors, and mention any special activities for children.
2. Have extra greeters at the church entrances to answer questions, point the way to childcare and restrooms, and give a warm smile and welcome to all.
3. Consider printing the entire liturgy, to minimize confusion for newcomers.
4. The sermon for Easter is probably the greatest opportunity for a preacher to share the Good News with many people she or he would otherwise miss. And for many of these newcomers, the best expression of that Good News would not be a theological reflection about the nature of Resurrection, but the preacher's experience of Jesus: Risen and alive today.
5. While traditional hymns and familiar music are especially appropriate for liturgies where “newcomers’ may well have a historic relationship to the church, consider hymns, special music and choir anthems that connect to the contemporary longing for spiritual transcendence. And if you're adding extra musical instruments to your sound, consider that some observers have claimed a correlation between the use of drums and church growth! Timpani, for instance, sound great in “traditional” settings.
6. Practice your welcome remarks to newcomers before Easter. Make it authentic, warm and inviting. Lower the barriers: “We are all seeking the Risen Christ in this community. We don’t have all the answers, but we are finding Jesus on this journey.”
7. Let the church buildings reflect new life: clean entrances and restrooms, reduce clutter in public areas, create a display of congregation life and activities. As for Easter coffee hour? They don’t need to be elaborate, but they are important. Encourage regular church attenders to spend all their time at coffee hour talking to people they don’t know or haven’t met.
8. Create a special “We Welcome You” bulletin insert that visitors can fill out with names, addresses, and emails to request more information, and which they can place in the alms basin at the offertory.
9. Holy Week and Easter are often high-stress time for clergy and lay leaders: make your own personal spiritual devotion, prayer and practice a priority, so you will be prepared for the demands of leadership.
10. Pray that God will make you and your congregation a welcoming expression of the Good News of Jesus – and expect that you will find the face of the risen Christ in the faces of newcomers.
The Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe michaelb@diocal.org