Ushers' Union

Welcome people

People are coming to church from lots of different perspectives and experiences. Your welcome can help to prepare them to meet with God.

Several tips…

• Smile
• Use names as much as possible
• Help with coats
• Assist parents with small children
• Pay special attention to visitors
• Give a firm handshake
• Be helpful but not overbearing. 
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Pleasant experience

a. Monitor physical environment

Lighting should be as bright and cheerful as possible.

Temperature should be monitored carefully and adjusted as needed. 

b. Deal with disruptions in the service

Ushers should be alert to anything that causes people to lose their focus on what God is doing in the service. 

Several possibilities for disruptions: 

A crying child

Disruptive teens

Medical emergencies

Pleasant exit

Your work does not end with the benediction. We also desire that people’s leaving be as pleasant as possible. This may vary from church to church, but think about how you can help people’s exit to be pleasant. Your work after the service has ended may not be structured the same as at the beginning but there are three areas to which you can be alert.

A. Look for needs. 

Be alert to physical needs.

• Assistance with coats or small children.
• Does an elderly person need assistance getting to a car?
• Does someone need directions to another part of the building? 
• Do parents know where to find their children? 
• Are children being disruptive? (Banging on the piano or musical instruments, etc.) 

Be alert to social needs.

• Recognizing persons who are not engaged in conversation and help them get involved.
• Especially recognize the awkwardness felt by visitors during informal times. Do you have a plan of what to do with visitors? 

Be alert to spiritual needs. 

• Does someone look discouraged and need some counsel or a word of encouragement?
• Are there people needing prayer ministry and if so, what is the arrangement for that? 

B. Leave a good last impression.

A smile and word of cheer as people leave can be as powerful as your welcome. 

• “Thanks for coming.”
• “Have a great week.”
• “I hope you have enjoyed your time with us.”
• “Come again.”  
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Appendix B:

Sample Usher’s Job Description.

To:  All  Ushers

From: Pastor’s office

Date:   

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am privileged to serve him with you.  I want to work with you as ushers to improve the quality of our services.  I consider your job a very important one which demands consistency, and effort to be done with success.  I want to clarify what your responsibilities are and work with you to ensure that they are being fulfilled.  

Responsibilities of the ushers:

1.  To arrive 10 minutes before the start of the service ensuring that the forms, chairs, and speakers stand are properly arranged.

2.  To welcome each person as they enter the service.

3.  To usher people to their seats, esp. those who arrive late.

4.  To collect the offering.

5.  To shut the door during the time of prayers.

6.  To be alert to any disturbance during the worship service.  Your role is to assist the worship leader and preacher to maintain a worshipful environment.  (Be especially alert to the movements of children and to the classrooms where sometimes they play loudly.) 

7. To assist the pastor and elders in times of prayer ministry. 

8. To give visitors the visitor's card.

9.  To be available immediately after the service for passing out any material as needed.

Additional assignments of the usher coordinators:

1.  To arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of starting time. 

2.  To ensure that the offering baskets, drums, etc. are prepared ahead of the service.

3.  To assign each of the ushers to his/her post, giving each one the badges.

4.  To make sure the badges are returned.

Comments:

Greet people with a warm smile and welcome handshake.  Make them feel special. 

Collection of the offering is a sensitive issue.  Make sure it is done with openness. The ushers should place the bags behind the table where they will be collected by the deacons.

Do not try to be in the choir or another position of responsibility when you are on duty.  

After the service starts no more than one usher needs to be outside. The others can be positioned in strategic places inside.

• Ushering with a Purpose by Jon BylerOverviewUshering is practiced in some form in nearly every church in America. Every Sunday thousands of persons are involved in ushering or greeting. Yet, we do very little training for those involved. This session is designed to serve as a starting point for training ushers and greeters.Lesson objectivesBy the end of this lesson the participants will… Gain a deeper appreciation for the value of the ministry of ushering and greeting Understand the purpose of ushering Have practical ideas for how to improve as ushers and greeters.  Introduction This session is designed to serve as a starting point for training ushers and greeters. While I recognize a distinction between ushering and greeting they will be used somewhat interchangeably in this training. The meaning of the word “usher” is to “direct or guide.”  We will use usher to refer to those whose spiritual ministry is to serve the worshippers by maximizing their worship experience. Key verses:  “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”  (Ps. 84:10).  Reflections from this verse…. The cry is for the Lord’s presence, not just being a doorkeeper. A doorkeeper serves as a control point. Why are people entering? To meet with God. This alone should bring high value to what ushers are doing. They are serving at a strategic point, directing and guiding as people enter into God’s presence. In so doing, they are a part of everything that happens in the service. They have a role to play in people being healed, saved, encouraged, and transformed.  Better one day in God’s presence than 3 years anywhere else. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.  11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1Pe 4:8-11)Ushering With a Purpose, Jon Byler, lecture notes p. 1