Ushers Show the Love

When people arrive at our Sunday services, the first face they encounter is usually an usher. Even in this time of moving toward a “paperless”society, we continue to provide a paper bulletin and monthly newsletter to ensure we communicate with our community as effectively as possible, and our ushers hand out these bulletins and greet people with a smile.

But being an usher is a lot more than simply passing out bulletins. 11 am usher team leader Yolanda Lawler says, “It’s important that we show people where to sit when the sanctuary is getting full, causing the least disruption for those already there. We sometimes also have to accommodate people with special seating needs. It’s also important to inform people with coffee or other drinks that need to leave those outside the sanctuary.”

Ushers remain at the doors during the service to ask those who arrive late to stay outside during the opening prayer and meditation. This is to ensure that the sanctuary is in silence as much as possible during these times. Veteran usher Laurie Meinhold feels that people who need to leave during the service wait until music is playing if at all possible. “It’s so much less disruptive if people aren’t coming and going during the service itself.”

Servers take the tithes and love offerings and then go to the Accounting Office to count the money and put it in the safe. 9 am usher team leader Chrissy Sherbanee stresses that this is not difficult and no one should feel that this aspect of being an usher requires experience in money handling. “There’s a sheet that outlines all the steps to take and of course, there are always two people to count.”

She adds that ushers receive lots of training and support and encourages anyone who has questions or just wants to know more about what’s involved to ask an usher on Sunday. “Being an usher is a great way to meet people in our community. Plus I know I’m doing something important for the church which makes it “my” church.