Stewardship of Time and Talent Follow Up

 

Many parishes did a Stewardship of Time & Talent Commitment Renewal in these weeks around Pentecost.  If your parish was one of them, congratulations & we hope all your hard work has yielded much interest in your parish's ministries.

 

Don't forget:

• Enter your data ASAP.  It can be easy to let the paperwork sit, if you are busy focusing on all of your regular responsibilities.
• Get the data to your ministry coordinators immediately for follow up.
• Remind them weekly for the next few weeks of the need to contact the folks who signed up for their ministry.
• In the Thank You letter you send to all those who returned a commitment card, make sure you include a line letting them know that if they don't get contacted by the ministry coordinator in the next couple of weeks, to let the parish office know.
• Consider having one of the parish staff, or a very trusted volunteer in the parish office, contact all those who are NEW volunteers (not repeat sign ups) so that these very crucial folks are contacted.

As we celebrate the birth of the church, it's fantastic to see some of the excitement in our own parish over people who are enthused enough about ministry to volunteer!



How to tell if someone is a visitor or newcomer to Mass

A tip from a Parish Staff member!

 

 

How can you tell if someone attending Mass is a newcomer or visitor?  Maybe you have many parishioners at your parish.  Enough, so that it is impossible to recognize everyone.  Especially if it is a Mass you don't normally attend.

 

Kathi Rowley of Mary, Queen of Peace recently gave us this tip.  "If they have to ask for or are looking for the bathroom, they probably haven't been there before."  She pays attention to those who pop out of Mass and are obviously hunting for something!  What a brilliant idea. So for all of you that are working on welcoming...give it a try.

(Thanks to Kathi for this tip!)

 

She also shared her parish's 3 step process to make contact with newcomers.  During the week in which they register, two senior parish volunteers with the 'gift of gab', call the newcomers and welcome them.  A month later, the pastor makes a phone call to welcome them again.  Finally, 6 months out, someone from the pastoral council calls them again.   This is working well for our Sammamish parish and we think it will work well for you.  If you try this, please let us know by emailing parishstewardship@seattlearch.org.  As always, we welcome your comments.