How can I improve my ward?

[johnnylingo]

I had a lot of difficulty integrating into my YSA ward. After two years, lots of effort, and a priesthood blessing later, I now have very good friends.

But, I feel like the ward continues to be unwelcoming to strangers. It bothered me this Sunday, when I tried to introduce an investigator to various people in the ward, with mixed results. Being shy, it was a real struggle for me to build friendships. I don't want new members or investigators to struggle that much, or worse, to feel slighted and just stop coming to church.

Besides trying my best (despite my own shyness) to be a friendly person, is there anything else I can do to cultivate a more welcoming atmosphere in my ward?

[RachelleDrew]

Doing exactly as you are is a HUGE help. Helping new members navigate the ward, investigators feel more involved or even old members who just don't seem to have a place is helpful.

Get your auxiliary leaders involved too. If you notice a new member or investigator, ask them to help you do something special or nice for the new member. If they are new to the area, organize some ward members to help them move in. If they are investigators, have them and your family over for supper (or out for pizza. I understand being culinary challenged) and invite some of your friends from church.

Fellowship is (in my opinion) one of the biggest opportunities we have as a church to improve. I for one am slightly prickly in disposition. So it's hard for me to put myself out there, but I find that the more I do the greater my capacity to love becomes. It's not only a benefit to the member/investigator but to us as individuals.

Be the example for behavior you want your fellow brothers and sisters to exhibit. Someone WILL eventually take notice of your efforts and say to themselves "whatever they are doing is fantastic, perhaps I will try harder too".

Good job thus far, and good luck.

[RachelleDrew]

OH! And I hate to monopolize the thread in it's infancy, but talk to the person's home/visiting teacher! I know that I LOVE it when a member comes to me and says "i know such and such is on your teaching list, I think they need x or y". Most members are too shy or polite to tell their HT/VT's when they actually need something and so I often feel like i'm not able to help them because they won't tell me when they need help! One of my sisters in RS came to me recently and said "sister so and so is having a rough time with her kids. She's at home all day with nobody to talk to but the kids. She needs fellowship of an adult or else she'll lose her mind".

It was such a blessing of that sister to tell me about the other sister's needs. I've asked the sister in question millions of times if she needed help with anything, but of course she wouldn't say so herself. Since then it's prompted me to take her out to lunch, the movies, even just errand running so she can talk to somebody OTHER than the kids. Fellowship and friendship IS a need, and now i've gained a new friend because i've become a more involved teacher. HT/VT's are sometimes at a loss, and i'm sure they would love the opinion of someone who can give them ideas.

[mary1]

Please keep up the work that you are doing!!! Fellowship is so important. It was one of the reasons I drifted away from the church for a while.Iam currently working my way back. If a person has just one good friend in the ward it can make all the difference. They say some people leave due to being offended, I can say yes I was offended by members a few times but I think if I would have had someone to vent to who wouldnt be judgemental it would have made a difference. Lonliness and feeling like an outsider looking in was more the reason.I love the church.I know its true but lonliness and lack of fellowship can weigh heavy.It can make little problems seem major.

So please keep doing what your doing. Encourage people to invite new people,investigators,the less active to lunch,playdates,sports events anything!!!!

Set up if possible a means to follow up on people who suddenly stop coming.A phone call,a post card.ie We miss you, can mean so much.When I stopped going to church not a single soul called or emailed This information was on the ward website available to any who might wish to use it. It affirmed my feeling of being unimportant and unwanted.

Thank you for being so sensitive to such an important issue! Feeling loved and wanted is a basic need for everyone.

Mary