Such Great Heights Final Report

Welcoming

INTRODUCTION

The Welcoming section of Such Great Heights is Co-Chaired by Martha Anne Ellis and David Wofford. Other Committee members are: Dick Carlton,May Dickson,Mary Eberline,Sally Ray Griffith,Mary Fran Lowe, Jeanelle Moritz, Frank Mountcastle, Susie Scott, and Jennine Sherrill. Our vestry representative is Dabney Carr.

The Welcoming Committee has met frequently over the past six months to address God's call in this area of the life of St. Paul's. We have also received input and suggestions from plogs in the gathering space, from conversations with parishioners, from the answers to questions we asked in a survey following Jack Berry's presentation on Oct 25, from internal memos on the subject, and other sources.

WHAT IS GOD CALLING US TO BE?

We feel that God is calling us to be God's loving presence within and without the walls of St. Paul's. As the Welcoming Committee, we are called to welcome the stranger in our midst and in our neighborhood.

Our core values as a Welcoming Committee are:

Including all God's people

Welcoming and incorporating them into worship and ministries

Being open to new ideas in appropriate ways

Being sensitive to the needs of others

WHAT IS GOD CALLING US TO DO?

As instructed by the Vestry, this report attempts to give them an honest opinion of the Church's strengths and challenges ....also the opportunities as we see them and some recommendations.

STRENGTHS

Progressive church with a diverse congregation

Location in the center of the City, where people are beginning to make their residence

Dynamic youth program

Varied and high quality music program

Worship services six days a week

Young and energetic clergy and staff

Impressive sanctuary and related buildings

Strong service to others and outreach programs

CHALLENGES

Urban sprawl and families settling farther away

No traditional neighborhood community

Perception that St.P is too "old guard/old line"

Getting parishioners involved in ministry

Sufficient parking available for visitors/members

Parishioners making time to welcome new people

Creative programs for young families

Meeting the spiritual needs of residential downtowners

Balancing welcoming programs with available dollars/staff time

OPPORTUNITIES

Tapping into the 200,000 people who work downtown Monday-Friday

Working closely with the City of Richmond on its projects to attract and welcome visitors/future residents to the City

Exploring the spiritual needs of people choosing to live downtown

Maximizing the exposure ( and income ) of groups choosing our facilities; using 75% of our facilities 75% of the time.

RECOMMENDATIONS

As you might expect, the Welcoming Committee has received numerous suggestions from plogs, our forum & questionnaires, internal memos, our meetings, parishioner comments, etc

For simplification, we have divided these into three categories....Greeting Visitors, Visitor Follow-up, and Community Welcoming activities.

I. GREETING VISITORS

How can we welcome first timers to St. Paul's in a manner that honors our long tradition of hospitality, encourages them to return, and makes them seriously consider becoming a member of the Church ?

One of the efforts that the Committee took on right away was organizing greeter teams and visitor follow-up. This is up and running, and though improvements are needed, the system so far shows promise. As of now, the greeters are assigned only to the 9 and 11:15am services. A computerized list of visitors is being maintained by Kathy Coleman in the church office, tracking contact info, date of visit, clergy contact, assigned mentor, welcome pack delivery, and general comments.

Other suggestions that we received were:

Set up a system to have greeters at large gatherings of visitors at St. Paul's, such as Lenten/Eyes on Richmond/Jazz luncheons; music recitals; certain funerals; First Fridays art walks; and Court End Christmas.

More emphasis should be made to urge all members of the church to wear their name tags while attending services and functions at the Church.

Re-intoduce, " Bring A Friend To Church" Sundays, which is a personal and inexpensive way to acquaint people with the Church.

II. VISITOR FOLLOW-UP

In what ways can we follow-up with visitors soon after they first come to St. Paul's to thank them for the visit and keep the conversation alive, all with an eye to having them eventually becoming members.

On the computer visitor list, we have a " Mentor" space. A number of parishioners stressed the importance on this, citing persons in our congregation who shepherded them when they first came to St.P

There was general agreement that newcomers should have a personal invitation to join a committee or activity very shortly after joining us in worship. Exploring the Faith classes have been a particularly effective way to bring them into the fold, as is joining a foyer group.

Social events for newcomers were mentioned, especially if they were coupled with a personal invitation to a parishioner's home.

Parish Life is not addressed per say in the SGH initiative, but is key to having a " welcoming atmosphere" at St. Paul's. Hiring a Membership/Parish Life Coordinator would be of great help. A simple thing like asking a newcomer to fill out a time and talent survey would make someone feel wanted and could lead to valuable contributions to our ministry.

A valuable question would be " What attracted you to St.P. ?"

III. COMMUNITY WECOME

This part of the report will focus on suggestions we have received on ways that we can present St. Paul's and our activities to the broader community outside our walls, including thoughts on how we can nurture the small but growing number of people who are choosing to live in downtown Richmond.

Lenten services/luncheons, Eyes on Richmond and Jazz luncheons bring many non-St. Paulite people to our building. The question is...can we be more intentional about capturing data on these people and then start communicating with them about other church activities that could lead to membership ? Some type of simple " tear-off" pad could be on each table..if they would share with us their e-mail address, possibly we could interest them in returning for a service or other program. Also, during EOR Fletcher Lowe and Susie Scott made informal canvasses of tables to determine if visitors walked to St. P., where they lived, etc. The same thing could be done during Lenten and Jazz luncheons.

Our visibility in downtown would be heightened if we joined with the City on some of their promotions. We already have had some experience with being included in the History Walk...how about other City initiatives, such as the arts, baseball, music festivals, etc. Also, our membership in the Downtown Community Ministry with St. Peters, 2nd Presbyterian, Centenary Methodist, and Third Street Bethel is important...we should be able to support their efforts in providing a spiritual base downtown, and vice versa.

On this subject, Jack Berry stressed Parking ( with a capital P ) as an important need for the area around Capitol Square. We should keep our contacts at City Hall abreast of our interest in getting access for St. P. visitors to any new parking decks that are on the drawing board ( e.g. Davis Wrinkle works in this department ).

The suggestion was passed along that we analyze the zip codes of our membership..this was done in the spring of 2007 by the Rector Search Committee and the information is available. The thought was that the church could have neighborhood gatherings in the high concentration areas and St. Paulites could invite neighbors to their home to learn about the joyous doings down at Ninth & Grace.

"How can we make our chapel more inviting?" was suggestioned by a parishioner. The thoughts were along the line of changing the appearance and welcoming nature of the 9th Street entrance.

During the week, could our sanctuary become more inviting for individual prayer by having meditative music? Also, several parishioners suggested a coffee shop of some type, with a comfortable area to sit with newspapers, books and fresh baked goods.

The Episcopal Church has knowledge of foundations that issue grants for " membership seeding". With our membership in the Association of Endowed Parishes and all the things that are going on in downtown Richmond, possibly St. Paul's could receive grant money for a pilot program in this area.

How do we explain spirituality ? Many say that young adults today are spiritual but not religious. How do we answer that comment? Some of the old-timers at St. P. would think of SWEEPS...Service to others; Worship; Education; Evangelism; Parish life; and Stewardship...as a way to tell a non-religious person what goes on within and outside our walls. Others might take a non-denominational, non-religious approach to explaining the dynamics of spiritual deepening and reformation. Would the younger residents of Tobacco Row and Rockett's Landing have an interest in a program that explores the various options?

The Vestry has shared with us a report by a sub-committee of The Neighborhood Taskforce ( 4/23/09). It suggests that there " is a large hole between the warmth of the ‘ Hi and Welcome to St. Paul's' and ‘ How do we get you engaged and connected.'" It suggests that if we want to give " radical hospitality" to the surrounding community, there needs to be buy in by the entire congregation.

One of the suggestions was that the Church establish " Parish Mission Teams to go out into the community to survey the needs and desires of the neighborhood." The thought is that we would be responding to a declared need we had found on our own, rather than launching pre-determined activities/services/programs that we thought would be of help to the spiritual journeys of our neighbors.

For example, if we found a specific downtown residential community that had an interest in how St. Paul's has been inter-related with their specific neighborhood over the past 165 years, we could hold a forum for that community, either at the Church or in their locality. The organization of such a fact-finding team would need to be thoughtfully considered, and be staffed by St. Paulites who are knowledgeable and committed to this type of effort.

Respectively submitted,

Welcoming Committee
Such Great Heights Initiative