Mother's Chapel Canterbury Cross
Welcome to St. Thomas of Canterbury!
New Member Assimialtion Committee
newmembers@stthomascanterbury.net
This is a fairly new committee and is still very much in process. Some things to consider are:
* Developing a parish theology of New Member Assimilation, around the biblical category of "hospitality to the stranger."
*
Pinpointing and implementing a program to identify
newcomers' gifts (in the Pauline sense of
1
Cor 12).
* Deciding how to extend hospitality to newcomers (including follow-up) and how to train committee members (and parishioners) in hospitality toward newcomers.
* Producing a pamphlet outlining church groups, church governance, membership requirements, how to become a member, etc., and settling on a procedure to track newcomers (both those who decide to stay and those who land elsewhere). Some places to start might be Alban Institute Consultant Roy Oswald's book: Making Your Church More Inviting: A Step-by-Step Guide for In-Church Training and Consultant Andrew Weeks' book: Welcome! Tools and Techniques for New Member Ministry.
New Members
He said to them.... "Come and see." (John, 1:39)
If you are interested in beginning to talk about and unpack the above topics, please call or email Kurk Klossner. As Thomas Long, Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology writes:
"If
people needed only to be warmly welcomed ... then our goal would
be simple: be a friendly church... [But] people need more
than friendliness .. People want their lives to count for something,
and they come to church to make an offering ... People want to
join with others in giving and serving, in doing something of
value for God and for the world."
http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id4576
