How well do you ‘smile people in’?
In many rural settings newcomers know that if they have attended Church in the morning, it will be known around the village by lunch time! The welcome given them needs to be friendly but not too fussy to overcome this potential embarrassment. ‘Smiling people in’ is an important ministry to reassure newcomers that they are truly welcome and the village is not huddling together with ‘its own’. The timing of services needs to be thoughtfully considered and agreed to fit in with local bus services - if there are any(!) – the routines of agricultural life and 21st century pressures on family living. A regular time is more likely to attract people than perpetual changes on a rota with other churches - though sometimes these are necessary and need to be made known in holiday cottages and public places through attractive leaflets. A key mark of a welcoming church is the way people linger to talk or drink coffee after a service and include newcomers rather than staying in familiar closed circles. The imaginative use of festival seasons to involve local people helps to keep the church on the map of local consciousness. The rhythm of the liturgical year is also to be respected and explored (including Plough Sunday, Farm Sunday and Rogationtide). Some churches provide a welcome pack that is delivered to newcomers telling them of local ‘services’ of all kinds.