GUIDELINES FOR 8:30 A.M. CHURCH USHERS
2011
USHER RESPONSIBILITIES
Please get someone to cover for you before the week-end
if you will not be there on your Sunday. (Each usher has a roster, or see the Church Life page at cbpchurch.com for the 8:30 ushering schedule, which includes contact numbers for all ushers.)
BEFORE the service:
1. Arrive by 8:10 A.M.
2. Turn on all sanctuary lights.
3. Set both heating/ac controls (AC 70 / HEAT 72)
4. Open all doors (outside organ door open; do not open outside choir door)
5. Please prepare a glass of water for the preacher (no ice please).
6. Check to see if offering plates and reserved signs (if needed) are in place, that the bulletins have been brought from the office. Also check to make sure that the correct parament is on the pulpit. (The other paraments are located in a cupboard in the choir room.)
7. Light the candles on the communion table.
8. Greet worshipers and hand out bulletins in the narthex. Try to keep the double doors closed except to let people enter for noise control.
9. Turn the sound system on. See directions for recording (they should be found near the console). Start the recording shortly before the service begins, preferably before the organ prelude music begins.
DURING:
1. Remain in the narthex long enough to seat late worshipers. IF POSSIBLE, LATECOMERS SHOULD BE SHOWN INTO THE SANCTUARY THROUGH ONE OF THE SIDE NARTHEX DOORS.
2. Discreetly count the congregation attendance (including musicians, minister, ushers and nursery attendants).
3. It is most helpful for ushers to sit on a back pew and keep alert to possible situations that may arise (including temperature in the sanctuary—if you see people fanning themselves, or shivering, adjust the air accordingly. Be sure to keep both thermostats at the same temperature). Be ready to tend to emergencies/disturbances. Try to respond quickly, courteously, and as quietly as possible to every special situation.
4. Your trainer will go over the offering collection.
5. As the postlude music is being played, assist anyone who needs help moving to an exit.
AFTER:
1. Please extinguish candles and collect the plate from the table and deliver the offerings to the receiving treasurer’s box in the main office.
2. Finalize the recording. You may leave the sound system on for the 11:00 service.
3. Count the people in the nursery, add that to the number counted in the sanctuary, and leave the total attendance on a note on the secretary’s desk (being sure to write “8:30” on the note).
4. Please remove all 8:30 bulletins—regular and large-print—from the narthex. Leftover bulletins should be returned to the main office.
Thank you for your service!
Church ushering is a service rendered to God and fellow worshipers, and it can do a great deal toward setting the tone for the service. Ushers have an important role in preparing for worship, ensuring order and reverence, acting as a host/hostess of the church, and serving the cause of good public relations.
You may be the first contact a visitor or prospective member has with this congregation. Such things as attitude, conduct, appearance, and preparation are important parts of ushering. The attitude of the usher should be one of having been called to a holy privilege and duty, a task which requires good judgment and sincere commitment. The usher’s conduct should reflect courtesy, friendliness, and reverence.
Help people to feel welcome, at home and wanted. Always speak to people, but remember that while you’re ushering someone into the sanctuary for worship is not the time to strike up a lengthy conversation.
All volunteers will be trained by experienced ushers,
and will have the opportunity to choose which dates they can serve.
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