Welcoming Visitors
The looming holiday season is before us. How do you welcome the visitor and invite them in? Join us for a webinar with Greg Millikin and Diane Young on welcoming visitors at the holidays on Wednesday, December 12th at 3:00 pm Eastern.
We'll go over the difference between being welcoming and being inviting—and how church leaders can coach their faith communities to being open and understanding as visitors enter through our doors. We'll also go beyond the initial visiting experience, to discuss how to keep members involved and connected.
Resources
- Presentation slides from the webinar
- “10 things we learned about welcoming newcomers,” by Rev. Keith Anderson
- “Engaging visitors during the holidays”
- Tip sheets and webinars from Unitarian Universalist membership professionals
About the Presenters
The Rev. Gregory L. Millikin currently serves as the vicar of Grace Episcopal Church in New Lenox, Illinois, in the Diocese of Chicago. Prior to this, he was the Associate Rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, in Alexandria, VA. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Millikin spent more than 10 years as a marketing executive in the film industry in Los Angeles. After discerning a call to ordained ministry, he obtained his Master of Divinity degree at Virginia Theological Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood in 2016. He is the author of Being Called, Being Gay, (2018, Church Publishing, Inc.) a primer and memoir aimed at those in the LGBT+ community who are discerning a call in ministry.
Diane Young has worked in ministry to newcomers for a dozen years, as Deacon for Newcomers Ministry and Spiritual Gifts at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Woburn, Mass., and most recently as Director of Community Engagement at the First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist, in Newburyport, Mass.