Report from the Congregational Development Team

March 22, 2019 Uncategorized

The Congregational Development Team has worked diligently this past year to meet our objectives to invite, welcome, and connect newcomers to the St. Andrew’s church community. It is a joy for all of us to see new people join with us in worship and friendship.

The team is always looking for new ways to make these things happen. During the past year we have had a number of projects with these objectives in mind. One of these was called Each One Invite One where our congregation was encouraged to invite an acquaintance of theirs to a service during the month of April. Periodically, we had what we called a Coffee Connect to meet with the most recent newcomers. This is a meet and greet social after a church service where these persons are welcomed by the team and clergy. We also make materials available to help them connect to the workings of the church. Later in the year we had an evening social for all the newcomers as well. They met with the team, clergy, staff and vestry. At St. Andrew’s it puts a smile on our face to see the young ones come to church. To ensure parents know their children are welcome, we prepare Activity Bags that are given out each Sunday by our greeters who, by the way, are also an important part of our welcome. Also, during this year we worked with the office staff to formalize the path for newcomers to become a formal part of our parish if they so desire.

Since the formation of the Congregational Development Team we have seen over 30 new families become a part of our church family. This is exciting to us and we want to continue this momentum. In the coming year, we anticipate doing the things that have proven to work as well as look for innovative ways to increase that success. There is no question that the overall success to date is due to and will in the future depend upon a congregation that has bought into the importance of this activity. So, we encourage our congregation to invite friends to our church, and to intentionally seek out newcomers at our services, and to welcome them and include them in our community.

We welcome anyone who would like to become a part of this team. If you are interested, please contact our team leader, Betty Delk (757-621-7974), the vestry liaison, Jay Lambiotte (757-291-2446), or the church office.

Jay Lambiotte