bethel church usher training 2012-13 – … manual.pdf · bethel church usher training 2012-13 ......

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Last updated: 11 Sep 12

BETHEL CHURCH

USHER TRAINING 2012-13 – FULL TEXT

A NOTE FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR/CHIEF USHER:

Firstly, thanks so much for joining the ushering team at Bethel! It’s folks like you that help us love God

passionately and serve others significantly on Sunday mornings.

You’ll find below all the content that is being taught at our training sessions. Just read through it and you

should have a pretty good idea of how we do things here every week! Don’t worry about the fact that the slides

are a little small… I assure you their content is written out below them! Also, in the case of the two diagram

slides, I have made those a little larger so you can get an idea of what we were illustrating.

Have any questions? Feel free to talk to your team captain, or just contact me directly…

… by e-mail: [email protected]

… by phone: 542-2990

Once you have completed reading it, please do let me know so I can add you to the list of folks who have been

trained.

Thanks again, and God bless you all in your ministry!

Janet Lee

Chief Usher

and

Carmen Gauvin-O’Donnell

Church Administrator

SLIDE 1

BEING AN USHER: SERVICE AND SAFETY AT BETHEL CHURCH

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SLIDES 2-3

INTRODUCTION: THE VALUES OF “USHERING” AT BETHEL…

� T.E.A.R.S!

� Team

� Excellence

� Authenticity

� Relevance

� Solidarity

• Service

• Congregation and Visitors

• Leadership

• Safety

• Heart

• “Work day” ☺

- These are Bethel’s values:

o Team

o Excellence

o Authenticity

o Relevance

o Solidarity

- Ushering is not only about handing out bulletins and taking up the offering

- It’s also about service on a Sunday morning:

o Service to the congregation and visitors

o Service to the leadership that leads to a great worship experience for everyone

- It’s also about safety: if a fire alarm goes off, do you know what to do? What if you saw a man you’ve

never seen follow a child into one of the bathrooms?

- Your heart for service and excellence is often the first thing a new person will see when they come to

Bethel!

- Your service will be a “work day”: you can expect to miss a lot of the service in whatever time slot

you’re in that day… That’s why we have many usher teams, so that you’re not “working” more than

about 1 Sunday every 3 weeks. You can also attend the other service as well to make up for it! ☺

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SLIDE 4

PART I – BEFORE THE SERVICE

� Arrive 20 minutes before the service

� “Usher” tags –

� Read the service order and bulletin

� Doors unlocked? Windows opened?

� Early arrival?

� bulletin

� any needs?

- Everyone on the team should arrive at least 20 minutes before the service so that some can stay at the

doors while the others do any other needed stuff

- Put on an “Usher” tag – new usher name tags are to be kept upstairs and are not to be left on the table

(where anyone could take one and pass themselves off as an usher).

- Read the service order and bulletin so you know what will be happening

- Confirm that the doors have been unlocked, windows opened etc. If not, do that.

- If someone arrived early and is already seated in the sanctuary…

o make sure they have a bulletin

o see if they need anything before the service starts, especially if they’re new!

- As of October 2010, all children are going directly to Waumba Land and UpStreet (i.e. they are not

staying in for the beginning of the service), so feel free to tell any new families where to take them.

Although if families want their children to remain with them for worship, that’s okay too. See Appendix

A to know where all the children go during the first service.

SLIDE 5

PART II: DURING THE SERVICE

� Someone in the foyer at all times

� After the offering, two people walk:

�Check classrooms/nursery

�Check bathrooms

� upstairs

- Someone stays in the foyer at all times to welcome late arrivals and keep an eye on peoples’ property

and limit access to the office area upstairs

- After the offering, two people periodically walk around the church:

o Take a look into each classroom/nursery to ensure everything is ok (no need to actually enter)

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o Check all the bathrooms (the only adults who should be using the downstairs (UpStreet)

bathrooms during services are the Sunday school staff). All others should be told to use the

main foyer bathrooms.

o Go upstairs and check things out there as well.

SLIDE 6

PART II: DURING THE SERVICE (cont’d)

� Someone comes in late?

� lead them to a seat (unless the church isn’t busy (i.e.

holidays) when they will easily be able to see spaces in

the pews).

� NO pointing! ☺

- If someone comes in late and needs to be seated,

o lead them to a seat (unless the church isn’t busy (i.e. holidays) when they will easily be able to

see spaces in the pews).

o DO NOT DO THIS: walk down, find them a spot and then point at them to come sit. Ask them to

follow you while you find them a seat, as they may be embarrassed about walking in late to

begin with so we don’t want to do anything more to call attention to them.

SLIDE 7

PART II: DURING THE SERVICE (cont’d)

� Don’t hesitate to ask someone already in a pew if they can shuffle over a bit so the newcomers can sit.

� If necessary, before the service begins, don’t hesitate

to tell a staff member or worship leader to ask the

congregation to squeeze in so we have more room!

- Feel free to ask someone already in a pew if they can shuffle over a bit so the newcomers can sit.

- If necessary, before the service begins, don’t hesitate to tell a staff member or worship leader to ask

the congregation to squeeze in so we have more room!

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SLIDE 8

PART III: AFTER THE SERVICE

� Two stay in the main foyer to say goodbye

� While the crowd is leaving, make sure no groups

form up that block the exits (a fire hazard)… keep

everyone moving smoothly

- Two ushers stay in the main foyer to say goodbye as the main crowd leaves; once the larger part of it

has left (smaller groups that are chatting are okay!), check with the team captain to make sure nothing

else is needed – then you’re done!

- While the crowd is leaving, make sure no groups form up that block the exits (a fire hazard)… keep

everyone moving smoothly, both in the foyer and in the sanctuary aisles (i.e. do invite them to go chat

at Coffee and Conversation in the gym!)

- Tidying:

o Collect any left-over bulletins from the pews and return them to the foyer for re-use if they’re

still good

o Throw out old communion cups

o Tidy the pews, putting anything in lost and found (anything more valuable, such as a cell phone

can be left on the desk in the office upstairs)

SLIDE 9

PART IV – COMMUNION AND BENEVOLENT OFFERING

� COMMUNION

� 1st Sunday of each month

� Usher teams will usually serve communion

� See diagram 1 on next slide for usher positions for communion

- COMMUNION

o is the 1st

Sunday of each month, unless notified otherwise

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o Usher teams can assume they will serve communion except occasionally when the elders and

their wives do it. They will be told beforehand.

o See diagram 1 on next slide for usher positions for communion

SLIDE 10

DIAGRAM 1

6

Centre

Pews

Stage

West

Pews

East

Pews

Communion Table

14

23

5

Johnson Street

Vestibule/Reception Area

Picking up the (benevolent) offering/Serving the communion service

SLIDE 11

PART V: SAFETY AT BETHEL

� FIRE SAFETY: IF THE FIRE ALARM GOES OFF

DURING A SERVICE…

� Metro Parking Lot is rendez-vous area for families

� Two ushers for the sanctuary

� Two others will stand

� corner of Johnson and Barrie

� Brock and Barrie to direct the congregation to the Metro.

� The children : Sunday school staff and elders/deacons

- FIRE SAFETY: IF THE FIRE ALARM GOES OFF DURING A SERVICE…

o The evacuation assembly area for the congregation is the METRO STORE PARKING LOT one

block over

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o Two ushers are to ensure that people in the sanctuary leave in an orderly and safe manner.

o Two others will stand, one at the corner of Johnson and Barrie, the other at Brock and Barrie to

direct the congregation to the Metro.

o The children will be looked after by Sunday school staff and elders/deacons

SLIDE 12

EVACUATION SLIDE

SLIDE 13

SAFETY OF CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE PERSONS

� SAFETY OF CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE

PERSONS

� This is why we ask you to walk around the church.

� Remain vigilant, but polite:

� Someone you don’t recognize hanging out anywhere

but in the sanctuary)?

� A child walking around that probably shouldn’t be?

- This is why we ask you to walk around the church. Since it is open during services, anyone could come

in by the side door or front doors, without us knowing about it. The safety of our children and

vulnerable persons demands that we remain vigilant, but polite:

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o See someone you don’t recognize hanging out outside the sanctuary area during a service (i.e.

anywhere but in the sanctuary)? Ask them if you can be of assistance. Make sure you’re

satisfied with their answer before moving on.

o See a child walking around that probably shouldn’t be? Ask them where they’re going and make

sure they get there.

SLIDE 14

PART VI – MISC.

� OFFERING AND OFFERING PLATES

� 6 brass plates on the shelf in the main foyer –

� 2 on the right front corner of the stage floor

� 2 on the left front corner of the stage floor

� 1 each are placed at the top of each of the

stairs to the balcony

- OFFERING AND OFFERING PLATES

o The (brass) plates are on the shelf in the main foyer – there are 6 of them:

� Two are placed on the right front corner of the stage floor

� Two are placed on the left front corner of the stage floor

� One each are placed at the top of each of the stairs to the balcony

SLIDE 15

MISC. (Cont’d)

� Offering (cont’d)

� The offering (w/ orange cards)

� Monthly benevolent offering - upstairs

� Any other items placed in the plates

- Offering (cont’d)

o The offering (including any orange cards) is placed in the black bag and given to the tellers for

processing

o The monthly benevolent offering is placed separately upstairs in the office supplies room, to be

counted later by staff.

o Any other items placed in the plates…

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� … are given to the person for whom they are intended. When in doubt, just put it in

Amy’s box with a note along the lines of “this was left for Pastor Mark, but he wasn’t

here today”

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APPENDIX A

LIST OF CHILDREN’S MINISTRY LOCATIONS – THIS IS POSTED IN THE FOYER

CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES @ BETHEL

NOTE TO THE USHERS

FALL/WINTER

Children up to grade 5 go directly to their ministry area (listed below) for worship beginning at 9:00 a.m. There

are no children’s ministries other than a nursery at the 11:00 a.m. service.

SUMMER

Children are dismissed to their areas following the offering.

AGE LOCATION

0-2 yrs Nursery, in the East Wing (left-hand side of the building as you face the front of the

sanctuary). Children may be dropped off at any time.

3-4 yrs Waumba Land, also in the East Wing

K-Gr. 5 UpStreet, in the basement of the West Wing (right-hand side of sanctuary, down the

stairs on the right)

Gr. 6-8 The youth sit together in a reserved area in the two front rows of the left balcony. They

usually leave after the offering, going either to the New Gym in the West Wing, or

directly up to the Youth Room in the East Wing, second floor.

[END OF TRAINING MATERIAL]

bethel church usher training 2012-13 – … manual.pdf · bethel church usher training 2012-13 ......

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