November 22, 2023

With the Advent and Christmas season upon us, you are likely planning wonderful connections with your communities of faith, that will invite neighbours, and visitors. Perhaps consider an announcement handout, post card or intentional welcome to let everyone know what your community of faith is up to. Don’t forget to include information on your websites and social media as well. Consider the welcome of name tags, a great way to help us learn or remember names. Consider having a couple people be name tag greeters before each event, to invite people to make name tags or find theirs. In my last pastoral charge, our music director, Jenny Trites, prepared this little “why wear name tags” info for our bulletins, and I share it here with her permission:

In a spirit of radical welcome, we encourage everybody to wear a name tag today.

Name tags help us recognize and remember each other. They are a small gesture appreciated by: those learning many names at once; those who are deaf or hard of hearing; or those who struggle to match names with faces.

If you are comfortable doing so, consider adding your pronouns. Sharing pronouns is a signal that we welcome those of all genders, and appreciate knowing how to speak of each other respectfully.

Share your great ideas for outreach and growth with me.