Seven Tips for Welcoming People Back to In-Person Church

Whether you’ve been open for some form of in-person worship for a while or are contemplating a return to in-person worship in the weeks and months ahead, we’re all now entering a new season of welcome, each community at its own pace and in its own way. Here are seven ideas for doing so thoughtfully and effectively.

1) Frame the Big Picture: Exile and Return, Diaspora and Community

One of the overarching, recurring themes in the Bible is “exile and return,” and for many, the pandemic has created a visceral, personal experience of what the distance and loneliness of “exile” can feel like. Connecting online has helped, but a feeling of being “scattered and fragmented” has been pervasive, a dislocated sense of living in a diaspora, longing for community. Framing things this way has at least two benefits: it can help us connect to the ancient stories of scripture, and it can help us understand what we’ve been living through in the light of those ancient stories.

2) When the Time is Right, Name the Joy — and What We’ve Been Missing

“How very good and pleasant it is,” sings the Psalmist, “when kindred dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). Sure enough, it IS good and pleasant to be together physically — and we may never appreciate the blessing of physical togetherness, of gathering, more than we do now. And the flip side of this is naming what we’ve been missing during the season of distance.

As your church returns to in-person worship over the weeks and months ahead, try inviting a select, diverse group of folks — one person or family per worship service — to name what they’ve been missing about gathering physically, and so to express their joy at being “kindred dwelling together.” The form might be something like this: “During this difficult time, what I’ve been missing most about being together is _________. And so it’s with joy that I say with the Psalmist, ‘How very good and pleasant it is’ to _________ again!”

3) Plan and Launch a Church-Wide “Welcome Campaign”

Many churches hold intentional, organized stewardship campaigns to raise funds — so why not apply the same intentionality and focus to this imminent season of welcome! Pull together a task force, coordinate social media and website messaging, do a “hospitality audit” to renew your church’s welcome to all, plan a sermon series on how each of us is “welcomed by the One who made us to welcome one another” — in other words, launch a whole campaign! Here’s SALT’s “Hospitality: Tools of the Trade” Kit for everything you need to get started (a short film, a Hospitality Audit, and a hand-illustrated poster).

Moreover, since every challenge is also an opportunity, look at this upcoming season this way: many people now appreciate the importance of physical community as never before — so from the perspective of outreach and church growth, the months ahead will present a significant opportunity to put your congregation’s best foot forward.

4) Leverage the Power of Singing

One of the things people miss most about in-person worship is music — and in particular, congregational singing. Now, indoor congregational singing may be one of the last things to return to worship, but there are still things you can do in the meantime.

Here’s an idea: name the joy of congregational singing, and announce a church-wide survey to determine the congregation’s favorite hymns and spiritual songs. Then announce the favorites with some fanfare. You could even “count down” the Top 10 favorites, one per week, with a soloist singing the song, ten songs over ten weeks (or five songs over five weeks - you get the idea). And all of this could lead up to a special culminating service in which all ten songs (or all five) are sung by the congregation, at whatever point down the road makes sense in your context. As the late, great Fred Craddock once put it, the greatest pleasure in the world is — wait for it — anticipation!

5) Name and Create Space for Different Comfort Levels

As the world opens up, some vaccinated people will shed masks, while others will keep wearing them; some will gravitate toward outdoor worship and events, while others will feel comfortable indoors; and so on. As your congregation discerns its own pace of transitioning toward the “new normal,” be intentional about explicitly naming the fact that each person, each family, each situation is different, and that one of the things church is all about, after all, is supporting one another in our diversity.

6) Prioritize Patience and Self-Care

Transitions like this one include a jumble of intense emotions, crosscurrents, and stress for everyone — and especially for a congregation’s leadership. It will be a bumpy ride, and so everyone will need an extra dose of patience. Pastors and lay leaders will need to double down on self-care, including time off, prayer practices, and other rejuvenating activities. The dangers of burnout have been with us for a while, of course, but these perils increase as emotions and stress levels rise. So: know any leaders in your congregation? Send them a note of thanks. Encourage them to take some additional time off. Tell them how much you appreciate their work.

7) Let Our Broken Hearts Stay Broken Open

So many have lost loved ones to this pandemic, and the losses continue to mount, both around the neighborhood and around the world. Loneliness and isolation, unemployment and lingering illnesses, inequalities and divisive rancor — all these challenges and more continue to riddle and weaken our communities.

In short, this has been and continues to be a heartbreaking time. And while it may be tempting to try to rush back to “normal” and put away our broken hearts, God calls us to do the opposite: to allow our broken hearts to help connect us to other broken hearts, bear the most vulnerable in mind, and act in solidarity with the most vulnerable in all we do. Even as we celebrate increasing vaccinations and a re-opening world, even as we take real joy in coming together again, we can continue to keep our broken hearts open. After all, holding together both of these things — celebrative joy and brokenhearted love — is one of worship’s signature superpowers!