1. Turning Building Users into potential parishioners**
From Parking Lot to Pew
Turning Building Users into potential parishioners**
**adapted from From Parking Lot to Pew: Turning Building Users into Worshipers
building-users-into-worshipers/ May 18, 2018

2. Many of us have outside groups who use our buildings
We hear all the time, ”If as many people who attended AA attended church we would be in great shape” OR “I don’t know how to get these folks from downstairs, Upstairs.”
Many churches provide meeting space for community groups hoping that building users will eventually show up for worship. But for a church to reach new people through its facility, it must engage in an active, intentional process of building relationships with those using the building, according to Kay Kotan and Phil Schroeder.

3. Kotan and Schroeder Continue
Will someone get up on Sunday morning and think because he or she attended a Boy Scout or Girl Scout meeting in a particular fellowship hall on Tuesday evening that he or she will suddenly have an interest in worship? At one time, this might have worked, but in today’s non- church-centric world, it is naive for us to believe this will happen.
Think about Who is in and out of your church building on a weekly or monthly basis? Who uses the building? And what is your relationship with them? Many congregations allow groups to use the church and think that somehow by being in the building during the week those groups might somehow decide to come to worship on Sunday.
The church is in the relationship business, not the landlord business.

4. The Church is in the Relationship Business not the Landlord Business
This is a profound statement.
How many of us here enjoy being the church’s landlord?
It’s a hassle, mainly because we don’t really know the folks who are using our building
two examples of relationship building with tenants

5. We aren’t proselytizing, we’re welcoming
Offering presence and hospitality
If a church is to use its facility to reach new people, it must be through an active, intentional process of building relationships with those who are using the building. We must be willing to offer our presence and hospitality in addition to the building.
A UMC Church didn’t know what to charge a local Homeowner’s Association that wanted to use their space for their monthly meetings. Instead of charging them, the Board (vestry) decided to have a greeter present whenever the meetings were held. That member of the church provided Hospitality, Welcome.

6. continued
As the Greeter got to know the members of the HOA he invited them to a specific event the church was having….not a worship service but a concert, or a festival, or a basket raffle….
People like to be invited
BUT…when they show up they need to be welcomed….only by feeling welcomed will they stick around and get connected

7. From Parking Lot to Pew means giving up some territorial tendencies
People from all over the community were visiting the church so leadership decided that the group would meet in the church’s sanctuary (Nave) instead of some other space because they wanted people to be comfortable in the sanctuary as they learned the route from the parking lot to the pew. Too often, we put visiting groups in other spaces, but getting them used to the worship space may be the first step in getting them to worship!
Invite people to use your church proper, your Nave, for meetings or other events
Welcome them when they do this and as you get to know them …connect them to the life of the parish

8. Invite*Welcome*Connect
Mary Parmer was here in the diocese a couple of years ago to outline her Invite. Welcome*Connect*Program
People don’t just show up at church they need to be invited.
And when they arrive they need to be welcomed.
And there needs to be easy ways for them to connect

9. *Welcome * Welcome, a.k.a. Ministry of Hospitality
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.  Romans 15:7
Welcoming the stranger is welcoming Jesus.  Jesus paid attention to what was going on around him and especially to those people he encountered on a daily basis.  He modeled for us a new way of seeing the other - the way of love, compassion, and forgiveness. 
Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place....We cannot force anyone to such a personal and intimate change of heart, but we can offer the space where such a change can take place.  –Henri Nouwen

10. You’re not a landlord, you’re an evangelist!
This presentation is taken and adapted from an article on the church leadership website. The article was adapted from the book Small-Church Checkup: Assessing Your Church’s Health and Creating a Treatment Plan, by Kay Kotan and Phil Schroeder. Copyright © 2018 by Discipleship Resources, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved. Used by permission. The book is available at Upper Room Books, Cokesbury, and Amazon