Courses launched to improve culture of invitation and welcome

Two new courses have been produced to help our churches further develop their culture of invitation and welcome.

"A culture of invitation and welcome is really important in our churches. Whether someone is visiting a church for the first time or is a regular attender, the welcome that is offered very often reflects the life of the church. A good welcome is something that some people will offer naturally, but for churches it is always worth spending time on ensuring that we do welcome well! It is also good to reflect on why welcome is important anyway! Recognising the importance of our welcome we have two courses which we hope will help churches to help us consider the warmth of welcome offered.

"'Croeso' is a discipleship course offering an opportunity to reflect on welcome using some bible passages. There are questions for discussion and also a time for reflection and response. The course has 4 sessions and whilst it can be done at any time of year, it may be a good Advent course.

"'Extending our welcome' is a more practical based course thinking about the detail of welcome and offering some practical tips for welcome. As well as the obvious welcome that is offered (for example at the entrance door), there is detail about how the look of things like buildings and churchyards make a big difference in people's perceptions. There are also various checklists for you to consider where you think welcome is going really well and where you think it may need more.

"Whilst it would be great for Ministry Areas to follow the two courses, they are stand alone courses and can be run in the best way for the ministry area."