Tuesday 20th November at 2.30pm
I think we’re all committed to having the church open during the day but there are issues nowadays about the safety of having one person – staff or volunteer – alone in the building. So what do we do?
National Churchwatch advises:
Make the decision to keep the church open during the day
Inform your congregation
Encourage people to use the church (a busy church is a safe church)
Your church is there for your community. Let the community help………
Well, to some extent of course the community does help. We do have a few generous people who give up their time to be in church on a regular basis. But it’s very few and the turns come round all too often – once a week for most of us. We need more volunteers so that they don’t have to do it every week AND more times in the week are covered.
I don’t want to be alone in church
I know some people are nervous about being on their own: there are times when we want someone in the church but there is also someone in the office or there’s another steward so you wouldn’t be on your own.
It sounds boring
We all have our own take on stewarding. Some people bring work, a book, sewing, some do their cleaning, some people delight in talking to visitors. If you want to work that’s fine, but try to avoid looking so engrossed that visitors don’t feel they can approach you. And of course it can be nice just to have some quiet time in church.
I don’t know anything about the church
There are guide books! You can choose to study them and pass on the information or point them out to visitors.
What if someone asks me for money?
Is just the sort of thing the afternoon is about. We already have guidelines and useful phone numbers to give stewards – what else should we be doing?
What facilities can I access?
There’s a kettle, coffee, tea and access to the vestry toilet. Stewards can ask for a key which gets them into the vestry lobby and the choir vestry where there’s a phone.
Why should I bother?
If you value an open church please consider whether you could give up the occasional hour or two to this. If we had enough people turns on the rota wouldn’t come up very often. And frankly, as volunteering jobs around the church go it’s quite an easy option!
Tuesday 20th November at 2.30pm
Please come to the meeting – it won’t commit you to anything and it may be just what you’re looking for.
Keeping Your Church Open
Judy East