From the Rectory coninued:
This ministry of welcome is so important, because it makes a vital impact upon people: as the saying goes there is only one chance to make a first impression.

The welcome you have given to Jane has been appreciated, and a few months ago that same sort of welcome was extended to me as I moved into the Rectory and began my ministry amongst you here.

Whilst it is fairly easy to understand the need to welcome the clergy  -  who are quite visible by the way they dress and the things they do  -  it can sometimes be difficult to know what to do with someone who comes to church one morning. There is a delicate balance to be struck between overpowering them and making it clear they are welcome. And it isn’t a good idea to ask them to do something like take the collection on their second week in the pew!

Perhaps one of the more difficult things for us, though, is not so much the saying of welcome and the chatting before or after the service, but actually noticing whether or not people who come to our church for the first time can actually follow the service.The warmth of the hello in all our churches is excellent; the invitation to stay for tea or coffee where it is served is always extended. But in the hour between arrival and departure I have noticed that people are often left alone with the hymn book, pew sheet and service booklet.

Of course the priest, noticing that there are new people in church, might well make an effort to help people follow the service with advice to what page we are using  -  but our hymns are rarely announced and sometimes visitors don’t see the hymn board at a first glance.

People can be unsure whether to stand, sit or kneel, and when there is no consistent approach from the congregation to postures for prayer it can be very worrying and unsettling to a new worshipper.

It is really important that if we find ourselves sitting behind or next to someone whom we can see is a newcomer that we try to help them follow the service, and even invite them to come forward for a blessing. I know that this isn’t always easy  -  we don’t want them to feel overwhelmed  -  but we neither want them to feel baffled.

On the subject of posture, there are traditionally only two postures for prayer in the Anglican Church: kneeling and standing. These we have in common not only with our brothers and sisters in the wide catholic churches of Rome and the Orthodox, but with the Jewish faith which Jesus practised in his earthly life.

We kneel for prayers of supplication and confession and we stand for all other types of prayer where kneeling would be impossible or distracting.
How humbling it is to see people in their eighties struggling to get on to their knees before their God when so many younger and fitter people can just manage a slouching sit down.

Do, please, keep and eye open for visitors, and seek to make them feel comfortable for the whole of the service.

With prayers and good wishes