Make Sunday mornings at OUUC warm and welcoming for everyone!

Hospitality Teams welcome everyone to our church on Sunday mornings. Each Hospitality Team serves one Sunday per month at either the 9:15 am or 11 am service.

What do Hospitality Team member do?

It’s really about the Welcome, welcoming someone to our church home: Welcome people to the church, help newcomers sign in and get a name tag, prepare the sanctuary for Sunday worship, hand out Orders of Service, help people find a seat in the Sanctuary…

Want to join a Team?

If you think this is important, and you would like to help, please talk with one of the Hospitality Team members serving today to find out more.     *you would be especially welcome any Sunday for the 11 am Service!

When should you get to church to help out on a Hospitality Team?

Plan to arrive 30 minutes before the Sunday service. You will get a chance to meet everyone on the team. And you’ll get to help out with some of the activities the whole team works on. Each member of the Hospitality Team takes on some of the tasks of getting the Sanctuary ready for worship, welcoming people at the door, helping them find a seat for worship, taking the offering, and saying hello. Come find out how you can help.

QUESTIONS?

Ask one of the Hospitality Team members on Sunday. They are easy to recognize – they wear a stole that says “Welcome”. There is always room for one more welcomed each Sunday. Ask if you can help out that day, they will be happy to show you how you can help make Sunday mornings more welcoming for all. If you like it: join a team and serve that same Sunday/same service each month. Or, offer to help on Sundays when you are available.

To find out more, contact Jen Sabel.

Want to know more?

When my son, a gay man who now lives in Boston with his husband, was beginning to establish himself in Chicago after college, he went to several liberal churches to see if he could meet people.  But he found himself disappointed each time at the lack of welcome, even in the UU congregations.  He described his awkwardness, sitting alone sipping coffee after the service, while congregants milled around visiting with each other.  I’ve experienced this myself at churches I’ve been to over the years, as I’m sure many others have, and I know this can be intensely uncomfortable. Not surprisingly, my son never went back – to any church.

In Rev. Tandi’s sermon on July 17, we heard the words of Rev. Gary Smith, in which he pointed out ways to stay a “small church.” One of those ways is to give a “cold shoulder to visitors.”  We have already addressed this in OUUC’s new Ends, one of which states that we are a congregation “where people of all ages, identities, and circumstances are welcomed and connected in our loving community.”  Welcoming and connecting—this is precisely the mission of the Hospitality Team.

Newcomers may be seeking a spiritual home; they may, like my son, be looking for like-minded people; or they may simply be lonely or having a bad day.  What a great feeling it is to initiate a conversation with folks you don’t know and help them feel welcome.  We don’t want anyone to walk away from OUUC feeling that no one cared enough to come over and introduce themselves.  While being respectful of their wishes to engage in conversation or not, we can answer questions and say “Welcome!”

By joining the Hospitality Team, we can make a difference in someone’s life on a beautiful – or rainy — Sunday morning.