TN102 People who visit the church office

These notes were first published on this website in August 2017 and last updated in July 2023

Synopsis

These notes raise issues about the ‘reception’ function of most Church Administrators who work from a church office. This is often overlooked in job descriptions but can take a significant amount of time each week.

The notes then ask a range of questions about how the Administrator has to deal with five groups of people:

1. Themselves
2. The Minister
3. External visitors
4. Internal visitors
5. Volunteer workers and church staff

Here are two sample sets of questions:

1.2
How adequately does your job description cover your reception duties within your overall role? And your person profile likewise (if you still have it)? If "not enough", what needs to be done?

4.2
Can you recognise and then cope with church members who, in effect, are simply wasting your time? What if older or lonely members see you as their one point of real company when passing on their way to the local shops?

These notes can profitably be discussed by Administrators and their managers together.

These notes were updated in July 2023 with minor changes to the text and layout.