The Rev. Alan James, an interim rector in Chicago with eight years of experience guiding congregations in transition, speaks about using Invite Welcome Connect in churches without a permanent rector.
I've been doing interim ministry for about eight years. I love using Invite, Welcome, Connect. I think it's a real rich tool.
This ministry and the philosophy behind it is really compatible with what congregations are going through in times of transition. And so a congregation, as they go through the sort of the checklist and find the places that they see that they're not as involved in, they're able to say, well, let's prioritize this. And what's also good is the checklist and some of the tools within Invite, Welcome, Connect help that.
They allow congregations to take a look at the three sort of phases within this ministry, Invite, Welcome, Connect, and see what they're doing, see what they're not doing. And they're equally applicable to congregations of all sizes, all settings and contexts. And so it's very user-friendly in that way.
As an interim, I really am trying to be careful about not starting big programs that are going to in
some way sort of bind the hands of the next rector. And so a congregation can simply take a look at the various things and say, what's the low-hanging fruit? What's something that we might do right now? So for instance, they've looked at internal signage, how to help people move through the building and the facility. Congregations have looked at the materials they provide to visitors and guests about their congregation.
They talked about starting new member classes, and often even phrase them as sort of a 101 class. So it's not just for newcomers, but anyone in the congregation who wants to come and hear and learn some of the basics about the history and the ministries of the congregation, the who's who, that everyone's sort of equally invited. One of the things that some of the congregations have done is take a look both at what are some special services they might have already going on or that they might do that they haven't done in a while.
St. Francis Petal Blessings are always a really good one. The congregation I'm currently serving with has a Thanksgiving Eve pizza, pew, and pie service where we gather together, have pizza, simple Eucharist, and then pie, and a great chance to sort of come together, not have to worry about cooking the night before Thanksgiving. We have talked about advertising, whether that be using social media in ways that haven't been used in the past, or little postcards that parishioners can share with other people.
And so these kind of simple goals that are very attainable, short term, but also give congregations a sample of accomplishment about doing something new that they haven't done in a while. And so it's, again, it's a great opportunity as an interim to bring this ministry, this paradigm into the life of the congregation on its particular arc. It is really good in putting together a committee to have folks who are more long-term members and brand new members because they bring specific memories in real time about what it feels like to be a newcomer in this congregation and what would be helpful.
A mix, a diverse group of folks as far as tenure in a congregation serving in Bite, Welcome, Connect, everyone's on an equal footing. Their individual perspectives matter equally. It's not a matter of, well, we've been here for a long time, and this is the way we do it here.
It's like everyone's ideas is equally important in figuring out what the next step might be. And this is something that you can pick up wherever we are in the liturgical year or the program year. You can use this material year-round.
It is a very lay-driven ministry, and so while it's good to sort of have clergy and priestly perspective and participation in the ministry, it really is a ministry of all the baptized. And so, again, as an interim, I can be so involved in it but also really allow the lay members of the congregation to take ownership in what priorities we're setting, what we're going to first, in a way that then makes it easy to be handed off to the new rector and let them bring their own stamp and their own perspective in a way that they're not tied down to some vision or plan that I set up as the interim and then walked off and left it for them to do. One of the things that is good about this, because it's not a clergy-dependent ministry, and sometimes congregations go through transition without an interim, a congregation can do the self-checklist.
They can determine sort of priorities and implement steps in any one of the sort of phases of invite, welcome, connect themselves. They don't have to wait till a priest arrives. It's a very accessible ministry and set of resources.
The Rev. Alan James currently serves as Interim Rector at Church of the Saviour in Chicago. He is also a member of the Invite Welcome Connect Board of Directors.
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