Growth Group

Meeting Minutes of October 19, 2009

Members present: Rick Angell, Dave Allen, Elinor Redmond, Kendra Palmer, John McCall.
Absent: Jim Kupel, Stan Jordan, Sue Ross.

The meeting opened at 5:40 p.m.

John brought several brochures from other churches.

**indicates future action

I. “The Plan”:
We went over Dave’s master plan, step by step:
1. Brochures: Jim incorporated changes based on the Parish Host meeting.

2. Team/Group summaries: in process – Dave remarked that achieving 80% is a good goal.

3. Materials for PH reference manual: Elinor and John will meet early next week. We discussed the challenge of keeping materials updated and possible use of the web in future.

4. Recruit hosts: 10 people attended the meeting and were enthusiastic. Rick (and Stan) will make more calls.

5. The first meeting was held.

6. Identity of guests to be hosted: our first thought considered new members signed up through the Inquirer’s Meeting. Later we discussed how to identify potential hostees within a few months of their starting to attend our church. They could also be people who did not respond to or declined an invitation to attend an Inquirer’s meeting.

7. Host training: This will consist of a brief (45 minute meeting). The group will spend ½ hour brainstorming ideas and 15 minutes touring the building. John will ‘train’ Rick to do the tour. We will look for a time to get the group back together ASAP. Dave and Rick will target a time.
We discussed how to match people up. It makes sense to look for affinities (children in Sunday school, etc.). The process can take place during a PH meeting.

8. Pilot a few relationships: Dave will e-mail the people who came to the PH meeting.

II. Parish Host Brochure
We discussed the changes Jim made to the brochure. We suggest being consistent in talking about guests (not newcomers). Dave will write ideas for the brochure, including moving the part about being a welcoming presence in the Narthex under expectations. Ushers can be welcomers also.

III. Kendra’s List
Kendra created another version of her master idea list which included symbols to denote the source of each idea. We may already do some of the suggestions. She made a separate list which breaks the ideas into themes for various church groups. Not all tasks are ‘for sure’ choices.

**HOMEWORK FOR THE NEXT MEETING: Identify your own top 5 ideas and bring them to the next meeting. These ideas should have the most impact with the least difficulty.

John suggested having a brief hospitality tip at the beginning of Sunday’s service. We decided it would be provided during the announcement time by a member of our group. Dave will do the announcement on 10/25, Rick on 11/22, Elinor on 12/20. This schedule is tentative. We arbitrarily chose a Sunday late in the month.

IV. Materials
We discussed what materials are available for guests when they first visit. What is in the pew racks? Kendra brought a sample pew card, “For Our Guest” which helped a person navigate the cues of the service and told about the UCC. We looked at the (extensive) welcome packet provided in the Narthex. We will review and talk about guest materials at the next meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

NEXT MEETING: Monday, November 9 @ 5:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond