Back to Church: How Your Invite Welcome Connect Team Can Plan Now for a Transformative September

Summer is still in full swing, but September is closer than it feels. Once Labor Day passes, schedules will fill back in, programs will ramp back up, and Sundays will start filling in again. For many congregations, fall is the single most important season for welcoming newcomers—and your Invite Welcome Connect team will be at the center of making it count.

The weeks between Labor Day and All Saints' Day represent a remarkable window of opportunity. People who have been away—whether for the summer, for a season of grief, or for years of drift—often find themselves drawn back to worship in the fall. First-time visitors show up. Families look for community. Seekers wander in. The question for every Invite Welcome Connect team is: Will you be ready?

Here are five practical, actionable things your Invite Welcome Connect team can do right now—this summer—to plan for a strong launch of the new church year with intention, warmth, and the kind of radical welcome that changes lives.

1. Gather Your Team and Recommit Together

Before you do anything else, get your team in a room—or on a video call—and reconnect. Summer has a way of dispersing energy. Some team members may have moved, stepped back, or simply lost momentum. A brief, intentional gathering now, before fall arrives, reestablishes shared purpose and reminds everyone why this ministry matters.

Use your time together to:

• Review your congregation's Invite Welcome Connect commitments from last year. What worked? What needs attention?

• Identify any gaps in your team—roles that need to be filled before the busy season begins.

• Pray together. This is, at its core, a spiritual practice. Begin with the gospel imperative that grounds Invite Welcome Connect: "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19).

• Set two or three specific, measurable goals for the fall season—not vague intentions, but concrete outcomes you can evaluate.

If your team has been dormant or your congregation is just getting started with Invite Welcome Connect, late summer is an ideal time for a fresh launch before fall arrives. Consider scheduling an On Demand Introduction session—a Zoom-based overview of this ministry—to reintroduce it to your congregation's leadership and recruit new team members.

"Invite Welcome Connect is something we as Episcopalians can do. It's a way of evangelism that reflects who we are."

—The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Former Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church

Walking through the door of a new church can be an act of courage. The welcome your team gives can make all the difference

2. Walk Through Your Front Door as a Visitor

This is one of the most powerful—and humbling—exercises your Invite Welcome Connect team can do. Before Sunday attendance ramps back up this fall, arrive at your church the way a first-time visitor would. Park where they would park. Enter where they would enter. Look for signs, greeters, bulletins, a clear path to the sanctuary.

Ask yourself honestly:

• Is it obvious where to go from the parking lot?

• Is someone at the door with a genuine smile and a real greeting—not just a bulletin?

• Are restrooms, nursery, and accessible entrances clearly marked?

• Does the space feel clean, warm, and cared for?

• Would someone who had never attended an Episcopal service know what to do during worship?

The Invite Welcome Connect welcome audit checklist—available free at invitewelcomeconnect.com—is an invaluable tool for this exercise. Work through it room by room, space by space. You'll likely find some quick wins alongside a few things that need more intentional attention. Either way, the exercise transforms your team's perspective from insider to guest, and that shift is everything.

Pay particular attention to your digital "front door" as well. Many visitors check a church's website and social media before they ever set foot inside. Is your website current? Is your service schedule accurate? Does your online presence communicate the same warmth and welcome you hope to offer in person? Can visitors use your site to plan their visit effectively?

3. Refresh Your Invitation Culture

The "Invite" in Invite Welcome Connect is the first step in the journey, and it's often the hardest. Studies consistently show that most people who come to church for the first time do so because someone they know personally invited them. Not a mailer. Not a Facebook ad. A personal invitation from a friend, neighbor, or coworker.

Fall is the perfect season to re-cultivate an invitation culture in your congregation, and the planning starts now. Here's how your Invite Welcome Connect team can help:

• Preach and teach on invitation. Ask your clergy to weave the theme of invitation into fall sermons. When the congregation hears that inviting others is a spiritual practice—not a marketing task—it changes the conversation.

• Give people the words. Many churchgoers want to invite friends but feel awkward about it. Create simple, natural conversation starters your members can use. Practice them in small groups or adult formation classes.

• Use Invite Welcome Connect's Idea Collaboration Tool to generate fresh, contextual ideas for how your congregation specifically can extend invitations in your neighborhood and community.

• Identify "invitation moments" in the fall calendar—the blessing of the animals, a community dinner, a special music Sunday—and make sure your congregation knows to invite friends to those events specifically.

Remember: an invitation is not a sales pitch. It's an act of love. When we invite someone to church, we're sharing something that has given us life. That reframe—from recruitment to generosity—is at the heart of what Invite Welcome Connect teaches.

4. Build a Connecting Pathway

A visitor who comes once and feels welcomed but never gets connected to the deeper life of the congregation is a missed opportunity—and a person whose hunger for community goes unmet. The "Connect" in Invite Welcome Connect is about building intentional pathways that move people from first visit to belonging.

As you plan for fall, map out your congregation's connecting infrastructure:

• Do you have a clear, consistent process for following up with first-time visitors? This should happen within 48 hours, and it should feel personal—not like a form letter.

• Is there a structured way for newcomers to learn about your congregation's history, theology, and community? A "Connecting Class," newcomer dinner, or introduction to the rector can make a significant difference.

• Are small groups, ministries, and service opportunities easy for newcomers to find and enter? Is there a welcoming culture within those groups, or do they feel like closed circles to an outsider?

• Do you have a team member specifically designated as a "connector"—someone whose job is to introduce newcomers to other members with similar interests or circumstances?

Invite Welcome Connect's On Demand training library includes rich content on connecting practices, and Invite Welcome Connect coaches are available to help your team design a connecting pathway that fits your congregation's specific size, context, and culture. Don't try to do this from scratch—there's a wealth of proven resources waiting for you.

The goal is not just to get people in the door. It's to help them find a place where they truly belong.

5. Invest in Your Team's Training and Formation

Your Invite Welcome Connect team is only as effective as the formation and support it receives. The weeks before the new church year begins are the right time to invest in your team—not just in logistics, but in the spiritual and practical depth that makes this ministry sustainable and transformative.

Start off the church year by watching the Invite Welcome Connect On Demand video training as a group. Answer the questions and brainstorm.

Consider these training and formation opportunities to schedule this summer, ahead of the fall:

• Schedule a block of time for your team to work through Invite Welcome Connect's On Demand training modules together. Doing the training as a group—rather than individually—creates shared language, deepens relationships, and generates ideas.

• Use Invite Welcome Connect's Assessment Tools to evaluate your congregation's current practices in invitation, welcome, and connection. The data will tell you where to focus your energy this year.

• Book an Invite Welcome Connect coach for a strategy session. Whether your team is new to

  this ministry or several years in, a fresh perspective from an experienced coach can unlock energy and clarity.

• Look ahead to Invite Welcome Connect workshops and events this fall. In-person workshops with founder Mary Foster Parmer and other facilitators are energizing experiences that can re-inspire your team and equip them with new skills.

• Download and work through the Invite Welcome Connect Book Study Guide alongside Mary Foster Parmer's book. Reading it together as a team builds a shared theological and practical foundation.

Don't Forget to Celebrate

Host an Invite Welcome Connect workshop with Mary Foster Parmer or one of our other trained faciliators

One final word: as your team plans ahead for the fall season, take a moment to celebrate what has already happened this year. Has someone joined your congregation because of the welcome they received? Has a family found belonging they had given up hope of finding? Has a long-absent member returned?

These stories are the heartbeat of this ministry. Share them with your team. Share them with your congregation. Share them with Invite Welcome Connect so that others can be encouraged. The new church year is a gift—full of possibility, full of people who are ready to be invited, welcomed, and connected to something larger than themselves. Your team gets to be part of that.

The door is open. Let's make sure everyone knows it.