Leslie Parrott (2) (1922–2007)

Leslie Parrott. Serving as a Church Greeter. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. 73 pp. $7.99.

Serving as a Church Greeter was first published by Zondervan in 1993 under the title The Greeter’s Manual. It is one of seven volumes among the Zondervan Practical Ministry Guides edited by Paul Engle.

A. Leslie Parrott Jr. was the president of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois for sixteen years (1975-1991). He also ministered as the pastor of a church in Portland, Oregon and is the author of Serving as a Church Usher.

Parrott calls the ministry of greeting ‘organized friendliness’ and argues persuasively “Church greeters need to be carefully recruited, effectively organized, adequately trained, and fully motivated” (13). He goes on to point out the painful misfortune that “far too many congregations expect a warm spirit of Christian friendliness to inhabit the foyer of the church without any strategy to make it happen” (14). The purpose of the book is to help church leadership make the ministry of greeting a priority and to move greeters “toward a standard of excellence.”

Americans are accustomed to impressive customer care and excellent first impressions. Typically, churches have been slow to recognize how this affects their greeting ministry. A team of well-trained greeters communicates the church cares about people and helps to create an atmosphere of excitement for what awaits in the upcoming service.

Leslie Parrott provides many great tips for effective greeting. For example, he suggests having greeters before and after service, putting someone with high cleanliness standards in charge of keeping the lobby uncluttered, having greeters bring their own umbrellas to church, developing an emergency protocol for volunteers to follow if needed. The practical advice given in chapter four, “A Better Way of Doing Things” is worth the price of the book. By the end of the volume he dispels the myths that greeting is unimportant and that worshipers don’t care who stands at the church doors. Most significantly, he convinces his readers effective greeting requires special skills that not everyone possesses.

Serving as a Church Greeter is an excellent tool for churches to put in the hands of their leadership team and especially into the hands of church greeters. The book is cheap (which the budget committee will appreciate) and makes for a quick read (which the greeters will appreciate).… (plus d'informations)