The Membership
Development Committee mission is to:
1.
Welcome and acknowledge guests to the St. Stephens Parish
2.
Inform
guests, prospective new members and the current congregation of St. Stephens’
Mission, Pillars and involvement opportunities
3.
Inform, involve and integrate new members into the St. Stephens
parish
4.
Celebrate St. Stephens membership and participation with the
entire congregation
Meeting Minutes
Committee Members:
Karen Morley, Suzanne Cowie, Rob & Amy Redmer,
Phil Pierce, Vic Sordilla, Judy McQuiston, Trish Collins
Associate Committees:
Outreach, Hospitality,
Sustained Discipleship
Preliminary thoughts/action plan to implement the mission:
(A) WELCOMING AND ACKNOWLEDGING FIRST TIME VISITORS & GUESTS:
(B) NEW MEMBER CLASSES, ORIENTATION AND INTRODUCTION:
(C) INFORM, INVOLVE AND INTEGRATE MEMBERSHIP:
(D) CELEBRATE BEING A ST. STEPHEN'S MEMBER:
(A) WELCOMING AND ACKNOWLEDGING FIRST TIME VISITORS & GUESTS:
1. Recommend Father Sams continue to acknowledge and welcome guests and visitors prior to commencement of each service but hold recognizing Vestry members until announcements.
2. At start of announcements, Father Sams re-acknowledges guests/visitors and then asks Vestry members to stand and be recognized (easier to see) and emphasize their availability.
3. Greeter responsible for identifying guests and linking up with a Vestry member.
4. Vestry member to serve as host, invite to coffee hour, ask to sign guest book.
5. Office staff responsible for preparing “Thank You” note for all guest registrants and adding such data on new visitor profile list (to be created) to track subsequent visits.
6. Visitors who continue to come to services are identified by assigned Vestry member, with the intent of inviting them to attend subsequent New Comers classes with Father Sams.
7. Approx four weeks prior to schedule New Comer Classes, Father Sams and MD Chair review list of new visitors and send written invitations to attend class, including St. Stephen’s welcome packet information (TBD).
(B) NEW MEMBER CLASSES, ORIENTATION AND INTRODUCTION:
1. New Member classes to be held at least quarterly, to include three (3) orientation meetings to current visitors/guests identified above and for any other persons wishing to attend. Service announcements and other communication to be used to identify dates/places.
2. Father Sams serves as primary facilitator, with assistance from other parishioners as appropriate. Recommend that last class deal with parish life orientation and include visit from Sr. or Jr. Warden to discuss parish organization and opportunities for personal involvement.
3. Two vestry members are assigned to attend each set of new member meetings, to help in the education process and to increase vestry-level awareness of new membership. They may also serve to facilitate last meeting on parish organization in lieu of wardens.
4. Include discussion of IMPACT volunteer card and request they reply prior to their official recognition in service (i.e. we do not wait until subsequent fall campaign to approach them on time/talent/treasure). Vestry member to call new member based on IMPACT responses.
5. Recommend that guests wanting to join church be assigned a sponsor parishioner/family from a similar affinity/demographic grouping. [Sponsor training discussed below]. Sponsor relationship intended to last about one year, be fairly informal, with primary objective being for sponsor to serve as mentor and resource for new parishioner – e.g. introductory meeting/dinner, periodic contact to discuss how they are doing, encourage their participation in programs, seek them out at services and introduce to other members.
6. New member introductions at regular services continue, however coffee hour to include special reception for new members (e.g. reception line) and short biography/pictures to be included in bulletin and/or posted on nametag board for couple of weeks.
(C) INFORM, INVOLVE AND INTEGRATE MEMBERSHIP:
1. The key to membership development is communication (direct and indirect) and successful member development (new and existing parishioners) uses a deliberate combination of both:
a. Direct communication is the most powerful and most effective since it requires personal connection and interaction (e.g. sponsor to new member, committee chair to committee member, friend to friend, direct mailing) and it closely reflects the essence of the personal connection seen in worship. While it takes more energy and time (e.g. phone calls, meetings, house calls) and while it involves some risk (e.g. talking to stranger), direct personal communication is preferred when the objective is to develop a personal relationship and actively engage a member.
b. Indirect communication is broader reaching and best used for general informational purposes (e.g. newsletter, website, bulletin, service announcements, mass mailings). While more efficient and able to reach bigger audience, it is generally less effective in capturing attention and engaging participation unless the individual is already inclined to help in that activity. Recommend that Communication Plan be constructed to developed to better coordinate and exploit all area of indirect communication – these seem disjointed presently – some areas of overlap and other areas not receiving attention. [Editorial: service announcements need to be severely curtailed and ONLY permitted for those items which must be addressed to entire parish and which are not already printed/communicated elsewhere].
2. Continue IMPACT approach in fall campaign, with even emphasis on all areas of personal contributions (time, talent, treasure). However, revise IMPACT card to allow for multiple family members to each respond and to allow individuals to differentiate between current programs and areas of new areas of interest. Member Development to play more central role in aggregating responses and coordinating efforts among various programs which are recruiting membership.
3. Continued education needs to be available for all parishioners (link to Adult Faith) to permit further exploration of Episcopal Church. Three-meeting orientation often insufficient to indoctrinate new members unfamiliar with Episcopal faith. Perhaps tie this into adult confirmation series program.
4. Ministries Fair in early October as means of member re-orientation regarding programs and participation opportunities. Develop one-pager on each major program and integrate into Parish Guide and distribute in advance of Fair. Coordinate with Hospitality to make this a buffet event (appetizers) to draw more people. Will allow for more information prior to individuals’ completing their IMPACT card.
5. New Member Sponsor training to be developed and conducted by MD team, with input from Vestry and Father Sams. Recruitment open to entire parish, although selected parishioners to be personally approached to serve as sponsors. Need broad parish representation, in order to match similar demographic sponsor to new member family. MD Team member to serve as Sponsor Leader, e.g. set up training/dinner, establish guidelines, brainstorm ideas.
6. Use shortened announcement (above) to add Parish Program Profile (5 minute) highlight at weekend services (Saturday and Sunday); each week features special Outreach/Worship/Adult Faith program (e.g. Micheal in Macomb Jail) which has parish-wide appeal. Use as opportunity to celebrate parish activities and recognize individuals who are “behind the scenes” – e.g. when we recognize Sunday School teachers each September.
(D) CELEBRATE BEING A ST. STEPHEN'S MEMBER:
1. Create member spotlight in the Witness – e.g. feature four parishioners/families per issue with short interview and pics.
2. Revamp coffee hour format to a “fellowship hour” and include activities, displays, presentations to draw larger crowd. Set up round tables for seating. Set up TV/AV to show slides, videos as background display.
3. Create a St. Stephen's image with clothing items, pens, etc. Use part of budget to create “give-away” package for Ministries Fair (or perhaps to go with Parish Guide handout). Have some available for purchase for parishioners who want to use a gifts.
4. Use the property more for volleyball, camp-outs, cook-outs, etc. (This is the role of Hospitality Committee, assuming we can get an active Hospitality committee).
5. Create variety of small celebration opportunities (fancy hats at Service; children parade at Service; ice cream social; seasonal bulletin board decorations by Sunday Schools;
6. Re-invigorate St. Stephen’s Historical Society to create visual record of key events (video, purchase digital camera) and create a St. Stephens memory book for display in welcoming area. Encourage groups to take photos and add info on their own events.
7. Match the Baby Photo: A potential Fellowship hour activity to have several baby and adult photos of various parishioners, which people have to match up. Include brief bio of interesting tidbits about that person. People would have to make a guess of who they think the parishioner is that is shown. Maybe we could have it during coffee hour and you could guess at that time by writing your guess on the poster board surrounding the person’s picture. It could force people to talk to people they might not normally talk to.
Questions
about Member Development at St. Stephe's? Email us at
member-development@ststephenstroy.org.
This page last updated: 02/01/2008