Hospitality 101
How Our Church Became a Welcoming Congregation

By Linda Coffey

First Broad Street United Methodist Church in Kingsport was recently recognized as one of the denomination's top ten most hospitable congregations.

Here's what they did to get there.

When a group from First Broad Street UMC attended an Igniting Ministry training event last summer, we left with enthusiasm for what could happen in our church. We took the opportunity to evaluate our current welcoming methods and to plan ways to improve our hospitality. We have since discovered that becoming a welcoming congregation is an ongoing process.

Our first step was to develop a team to implement the Igniting Ministry campaign. The team is led by Elise Egan, who began by enlisting a co-worker to attend our church as a "mystery guest." Elise wrote a report about the mystery guest's visit, which helped the Igniting Ministry team define areas that needed attention.

For example, the Igniting Ministry planning kit suggests that if guests wear nametags, regular attenders should also wear nametags. Nametags are now available at every First Broad Street event. We also post volunteers to encourage our members to wear their nametags, and everyone has the opportunity to order a plastic, engraved tag for permanent use. This has been such a gift to our church family – more than 800 people have ordered the permanent nametags for $5 each. They sure are helpful when familiar names slip from our memories!

Our next step was to place a Welcome Center in the church lobby. The center contains literature about church activities, maps of the building, and a continuous-run video about the United Methodist Church. Our Welcome Center is staffed on Sunday mornings with volunteers who offer coffee, information, and an escort to worship services, Sunday school, or nurseries.

Key to the success of becoming a hospitable congregation is involving every member of the church. So we provided "Welcoming 101" courses during our Wednesday night program and also to every Sunday school class from 6th grade up.

We are now offering training in "Inviting 101" on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Experience has taught us that most guests come to church through personal invitation, so it's important to be intentional about looking for people to invite to church. Igniting Ministry TV and radio commercials can help to initiate conversations with friends and acquaintances about our church.

The Igniting Ministry planning kit provides a checklist for evaluating churches on their hospitality skills. We filled out and submitted the checklist, and First Broad Street was subsequently recognized as an official "Welcoming Congregation" for 2001. It's appropriate that this is a oneyear recognition, because the checklist needs to be reviewed on an annual basis. It's important to keep the challenge before us to be welcoming and hospitable to all our guests.

Embracing newcomers and providing opportunities for discipleship has become a way of life in our congregation. It is our desire to let people know that our hearts, minds, and doors are always open.

The Rev. Coffey is First Broad Street's minister of membership development. For more information on becoming a Welcoming Congregation, visit www.ignitingministry.org.

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