Expanding Our Welcome: Practical Help for Congregations from Covenant Conversation: Mid-South

At Covenant Conversation: Mid-South on Oct. 17 at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tenn., the Rev. TJ Remaley, pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho and the Rev. Julia Watkins, College Chaplain and Director of Religious & Spiritual Life at Davidson College led Expanding Our Welcome: Practical Help for Congregations. A PowerPoint from the workshop is available below.

Beginning from the idea that welcome is a theological statement, this resource offers concrete strategies for demonstrating that commitment inside and outside the church walls. Organized around hospitality, visibility and publicity, the PowerPoint covers inclusive worship language, names and pronouns, welcoming spaces, outward signs and symbols, community events, welcoming statements, websites and acts of public witness.

The PowerPoint also addresses the education and relationship-building that come before visible steps, as well as the risks and rewards congregations weigh as they live into change.