Every member visitation —
It's not just about the information

by Ana Watts
There are lots of good reasons to conduct an every member visitation in your parish. The most obvious is to gather and to share information, but in the process new relationships are bound to be forged that will build your church community. Parish representatives from around the diocese learned all this and more at an Every Member Visitation Workshop presented by the Diocesan Stewardship and Development Team at Cathedral Memorial Hall in Fredericton on May 14.

Our diocesan Nicodemus Project dedicated to transformational change calls on us to grow spiritually, numerically and financially in order to rejuvenate our church. An Every Member Visitation shares information from the parish — worship service times and options, opportunities for spiritual growth and education, contact names for groups and organizations — all while sharing fellowship. It is also the quintessential opportunity to collect information. Committed parishioners are often grateful for the chance to share their experiences and opinions as well as to offer suggestions on how some things may be improved, or even to suggest new program or mission ideas. A sensitive visitor may even encourage those who do not attend to share their reasons. Sometimes they relate to things in the church, but often they are personal and this knowledge can make it possible for the parish to respond in a pastoral way.

“We need to know these thing and to get things right in our parishes if God and the church are to be relevant in people’s lives and to be institutionally strong,” said Ann Fairweather, vice-chair of Diocesan Council and a member of the Stewardship and Development Team, who facilitated the workshop. “If we are not prepared to learn and change and improve there is little to gain from a parish visitation. “Those who are visited are made to feel they are part of the church and that their views are important. And the visitors have the satisfaction of doing God’s work in an effort to build up and strengthen the body of Christ, the church.”

Workshop participants followed Ms. Fairweather through the steps necessary to launch an every member visitation and they brainstormed actions and methods appropriate in their individual contexts. She told them a parish visitation requires careful planning starting two or even three months in advance. It is important to set goals for the visitation and document the information you want to communicate. It is also necessary to decide just how you will go about collecting the information you need — by using a questionnaire or leaving a feedback form. Remember as well that a lot of information is gleaned in casual conversation. You will also want to prepare a visitor information kit for the information sheets and forms plus a letter from the rector, and documents outlining parish financial and stewardship information.

Each visitor will need a list of families to visit, it is often a good idea to let the visitors choose these families if it is possible. A list of six or seven families/names is plenty in order to be able to complete the visitations in a reasonable length of time, perhaps two to three weeks. Commissioning the visitors during a worship service not only enables their efforts, it introduces them to the congregation so parishioners will be aware of the visitations and expect a call to set up an appointment.

Once the visitors have had some training, made their appointments and completed their visits the real work begins — analyzing the information gathered. What are the most important things learned from the visitation? Are similar problems or successes repeated several times? And how are you going to respond? It is important to share this information with the congregation along the way.

“We must be prepared to do things differently if we are going to grow spiritually, numerically and financially,” reiterated Ms. Fairweather.

 

Diocesan Communications

May 31, 2011