You’ve been thinking about becoming an usher in your church but aren’t sure what your duties are or if you’d even enjoy it. Let me help you out with some useful information and tips that will help answer all of your questions.
The duties of a church usher are similar, no matter which church venue you attend. Typically, an usher is assigned to a specific area or door within different sections of the sanctuary that are reserved for special guests. They direct members and visitors, as well as collect offering monies at the end of the service.
Passing out bulletins, greeting guests and answering questions are all the usual details expected of a church usher. But the responsibilities of this all-important position go well beyond the basics, according to Mark Belcher, author of a book about his experiences as a church usher for two years.
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Duties Of A Church Usher
Being an usher is a volunteer position at many churches that allows you to make a difference in peoples’ lives while interacting with people in your community. As an usher, you are the greeter, host, parking attendant and cleanup crew—often all before church starts. Since this position is visible, eager volunteers might enjoy it because it makes them feel appreciated by the church and its members. With proper training and prior preparation, the job of an usher is easier than it sounds. Here’s more about the duties of an usher.
The duties of a church usher are diverse. They include:
- Greeting people as they arrive at the service
- Assisting with seating
- Helping to direct traffic in the sanctuary during services
- Checking people in and out of the building
- Helping with coats and bags, if necessary
- Selling tickets for special events
The duties of a church usher are to help the congregation and the clergy to have a good experience in church. The ushers help provide an atmosphere of respect and reverence by greeting people as they enter, seating them, and answering questions. They also assist with communion and other special services and may lead the singing of hymns or prayers.
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Church Usher DutiesChecklist
Introduction
In the early days of Christianity, it was an honor to serve God, and being a church usher was not just a title; it was an important job that each person took seriously. If you’re looking for more information about the duties of a church usher, either to be one yourself or simply as part of your research into becoming active in your local congregation, you’ve come to the right place! In this guide, we’ll go over everything from how to greet new visitors and ensure they feel at home all the way through collecting offerings and helping people with mobility challenges get in and out of their seats safely.
Greeting people as they arrive
- Greeting people: As each person arrives, you should greet them with a smile and offer assistance if they need it.
- Be friendly and welcoming. It’s important to be friendly, not just because it’s the right thing to do but also because you want people to feel comfortable at your church.
- Ask if they need any help. Don’t assume that because someone is alone or older than you, he or she doesn’t know how things work at your church; instead, ask politely if he or she needs any assistance getting seated. If someone does need help finding their seat or would prefer facing an aisle rather than another person directly in front of them, be sure to accommodate his or her preference by making sure there are seats available for them before anyone else enters the sanctuary after them (and ask someone from your usher team if there aren’t any).
- Be polite and courteous. Showing respect toward others goes without saying—but it’s important not just when interacting with other humans but also when interacting with staff members working behind-the-scenes, such as ushers themselves! If someone asks where something is located inside the building (e.g., restrooms), don’t simply point vaguely in its general direction without saying anything out loud; tell him/her exactly where it is located using exact directions (e.g., “It’s right behind me.”).
Helping them find a seat.
As an usher, it is your job to help members and guests of the congregation find a seat. When directing people to their pew, be sure to point out where the children’s area is located (if there is one), where the restrooms are located, whether there is a nursery for young children during service times, and any other points of interest that may help make them feel more at home in the church.
When showing someone where they can find coffee and snacks after service time has ended, don’t forget to direct them toward the parking lot if they need directions!
Collecting the offering.
During the service, members of the congregation make a donation known as the offering. It is used for supporting the ministry of the church as well as for charitable work in the community. In addition to giving money, people can also give gifts like food or clothing that church members will distribute during special occasions throughout the year. Gifts are usually accepted and stored at your church until they are ready to be distributed, but you should check with your pastor if you have any questions about what will happen with them.
Helping people with disabilities into and out of the sanctuary
You will be responsible for assisting people with disabilities. This can include helping them into and out of the sanctuary, helping them find a seat, and assisting them in finding the bathroom if needed.
Providing directions in the church building
You should be prepared to provide directions to the church building. If a visitor asks you where something is, answer them directly and politely. You may not know everything about your church building, but make sure you at least know where the bathrooms are. This is especially important during services that have more people than usual. Many churches have separate bathrooms for both men and women, so it can be helpful to direct people there as well.
Additionally, if someone needs help finding their way around the sanctuary or its other areas of worship, let them know how they can get there. If they ask where anything else is located (such as a nursery or food), give them proper directions without being patronizing or rude in any way whatsoever!
Running errands for the pastor or leaders
As an usher, you will be in charge of running errands for the pastor or church leaders. This can be anything from picking up groceries to picking up dry cleaning to going to the bank. You’ll have to know how to run these errands quickly and efficiently while maintaining good customer service skills. It’s also important that you’re available on short notice as well as being able to run errands on a regular basis so your congregation has peace of mind knowing that if something needs done, there will always be someone who can do it without having any problems or issues getting it done properly in a timely manner.
Ushers often have a key role in welcoming new visitors to a church service
As the first face that people see when they walk into church, ushers are an important part of welcoming new visitors. If you’re new at this or haven’t been an usher in a long time, it can help to think about it as being the “face” of your church—people will come away with an impression based on how you treat them, so it’s important that you convey warmth and friendliness rather than impatience or irritation. Your job is also to answer questions. if someone isn’t sure where they should go or what they should be doing, it’s up to you as an usher to help them out and make sure everyone has a good experience at church!
How To Improve Ushering In Church
Not just anyone can be an usher, in the same way, that not just anyone can be on the worship team, work in children’s ministry or lead a small group. The right gifts, passion, and ability make a big difference.
The fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 is a solid guideline for a good usher. The point is not about perfection, but a heartfelt motive and desire to live a life of a spirit-filled believer serving God diligently in this sector.
- The usher’s spiritual relationship with the Lord must be continually growing such that his
relationship with his fellowmen becomes exemplary. - An usher must attend meeting regularly.
- An usher must constantly desire to develop and enhance team spirit among the members of the
ministry. - Friendliness is a very important characteristic of a good usher.
- Other attributes of a good usher are: punctuality, humility, graciousness, kindness, submissiveness, flexibility, cleanness (neat), sensitiveness (alert), faithfulness (dependable), availability, dedicated, poised and most of all, prayerful.
- An usher should be knowledgeable particularly about the church – its faith, worship gathering schedules, workers, outreaches, ministries and facilities.
SOME DO’S AND DON’TS
DON’T Regard ushering in church as a mere mechanical necessity to direct people to their pews or a social function which church custom considers desirable. The whole congregation, and particularly the ushers, must have the right mental attitude for the work of ushering. Otherwise, it loses its sacred character and will not accomplish its real purpose. No one should be allowed to usher in someone who is proud, overly self-conscious, desirous of making himself known and prominent, wants to show authority, thinks he is doing others a favor, or has the idea that it is a job someone has to do, and since no one else is willing to do it, it’s up to him to carry it out. All ushers must have the right mental attitude. Their motto must be, “We serve the Lord Christ.”
DO Recognize the importance of church ushering. Next to the minister, the organist, and the choir, the ushers have the most important task to perform in the worship service. It is up to the ushers to keep order and to help create a spirit of worship, reverence, and friendliness in and about the church. These things are absolutely necessary. Without them, the church service cannot be held. Furthermore, ushering is an important factor in the church’s public relations. The ushers are the representatives of the church to the people who come to worship there. Visitors receive their first impression of the church from the ushers. And that impression may be the deciding factor in making a visitor a regular worshipper or in causing him to go elsewhere to win or lose a soul to Christ and the church.
When the importance of ushering is realized, it will also help solve the problem of getting people to do the work of ushering. People like to do things that are important. That is a challenge. It will not be difficult to find and train a group of men for this work if they are convinced that they are performing a valuable and important service. Therefore, emphasize the fact that ushering is a great privilege and a sacred duty; emphasize the importance of ushering.
Note! While ushering is important, and its importance must be emphasized, the ushers themselves must not have or convey a feeling of personal importance and pride. Let him memorize and apply the Third Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek.” Let him learn of our Lord to be “meek and lowly in heart.” He is a servant of God. His work is important is its relationship to God and the worship of God, but personally, he must not feel proud or important.
D) Have regular meetings of the ushers for the purpose of instruction, interchange of ideas and suggestions, and discussion of experiences and problems. In some churches, the ushers meet for fifteen minutes before every worship service. For example, if the service begins at 11 a.m., the ushers’ meeting is from 10:30 to 10:45 a.m. This meeting is opened with prayer, after which some phase of ushering is discussed, and a final check-up is made for the ushering in the coming service. The advantage of this type of meeting is that it helps get the ushers to church on time and prepares them properly for their work. The disadvantage is that the time is too short to conduct a course on ushering. But whatever the arrangement, some provision ought to be made for the training of the ushers. They must know what to do, how to do it, and when to do their work.
DON’T Let anyone usher who does not attend the training meetings; at least no one who has not been instructed. Ushers should understand that they cannot do their important work properly without attending the ushers’ meetings, any more than the members of the choir and of the Sunday school staff can do their work without attending choir rehearsals and Sunday school teachers’ training courses. Furthermore, do not fail to impress upon the ushers again and again that they must be at their posts at least fifteen minutes before the time of service. They are acting as hosts for God. When the people come (and we want them to come early rather than late), the ushers must be there as good hosts to greet them and take care of their needs.
DO Seat the worshippers as much as possible where they want to sit. Ushers should study the congregation and learn the favorite places of the members, especially those who are hard of hearing, the nearsighted, the mothers with babies, and those who are ill. Visitors and people who come early are entitled to the best seats if they want them. But no one ought to insist on his rights contrary to the law of Christian charity. Parents with small children should be seated in the rear so that they will not disturb the whole congregation if they have to leave and will feel they can go out without difficulty in case of necessity.
For this reason, it is best to rope off the rear pews for them. In churches, which are ordinarily only half filled, it is wise to distribute the people in various parts of the nave. This will give the appearance of a well-filled church, even if it is only half full. Besides, the empty seats can always be filled later, if happily more come than were expected. It is also important to get the front pews filled as early as possible. That is the secret of getting people to the front. If you allow the rear and center of the nave to be filled first, it will be very difficult to persuade anyone to sit in the front. The reason for this is psychological. It creates the impression that the front pews are undesirable, since others have avoided them. It also makes some people self-conscious. Their timid natures rebel against the idea of going down the aisle past a lot of other people. It fills them with fear.
In large churches, it might be well to have ushers stationed at various sections of pews and to direct the people from one usher to another. That will do away with a lot of parading around by the ushers. The less of that you have, the better. And during the service, these ushers sit in their sections, where they will become a part of the worshipping congregation, and will be able to serve the needs of the people assigned to them.
DON’T Place children together in one pew unless they are accompanied by their parents or are with other older people. Don’t try to force anyone to sit where he does not want to sit. Ushers must not express surprise or resentment if anyone does not follow to the place where they want to seat him. They must try to act as though nothing unusual had happened, return to such a person, and kindly give him a bulletin. No matter how provoking a situation may be, the ushers should always graciously give in to the wishes of the worshippers. If a reserved section is involved, simply state that it is reserved and suggest another place. Don’t argue. Don’t let anyone know that he is in the wrong. Ushers should always know where the empty places are and never hunt for seats. They should never run after anyone down the aisle.
DO Give everyone a church bulletin with the directions for the service of the day. It is better to give such materials to the people seating them than it is to distribute them at the door. If the usher holds them in his hand until he has led the worshipper to his seat and then gives him the bulletin, it will help solve the problem of getting the worshipper to follow him. The same thing is true of hymnals if they are distributed by the ushers. Some find it more convenient to have hymnals in pew racks on the back of all pews. The number of hymnals must be sufficient, of course, for all worshippers. It may be desirable” to give out the hymnals to latecomers. This will make it possible for the ushers to point out to them the particular place in the service that has been reached.
DON’T be indifferent to the needs of the worshippers. They should not be unconcerned when they see that someone does not have a hymnal or a stranger does not know where to find the order of service. They should not fail to give those who came in and seated themselves without the assistance of an usher a bulletin.
DO Be tactful with latecomers who want to be seated at once, even though the service is at a point in which no one should be ushered into church. A little study on the temperament of such people will enable the ushers to deal with them without causing resentment. They may hand them an open hymnal, showing them the place in the service that is in progress and pointing out to them the next part of the service during which they can enter. If possible, temporary seats should be provided in the narthex for those who must be detained during the non-entrance periods.
DON’T Welcome people when they come to church with any backslapping expressions or any advances beyond a quiet “Good morning” (evening) or “Good morning, Mr. Jones.” …
DO Conduct your work in a dignified and reverent manner. Ushers should be dressed neatly and appropriately for the worship of God. They should be courteous, pleasant, and kind. They should always “be on the job. When their duties require them to be on their feet, they should be erect and tending to business. When they do not have to be up, they should be seated so as to be absorbed in the congregation and actively engaged in worship.
DON’T There is no excuse for ushers dressed in a light golf suit, white shoes, and a loud necktie. They should not appear at a morning service wearing a wing collar and bow tie, which belong to evening dress. They should never enter into lengthy conversations among themselves or with other people. They should not speak in a loud voice. They should not lean against the pews or the walls of the church. They should not walk around during the service or leave the church unless it is absolutely necessary in the performance of duty. And the time to adjust the heating system, regulate the ventilation, and open and close windows is fifteen minutes, at least, before the time of service, not during worship, except in an emergency.
DO In taking the offerings, the ushers should know and keep their place. They should remember that this is a part of the worship service. They should have an arrangement with the organist so that he can bring the music to a proper conclusion as soon as the gathering of the offerings is finished.
DON’T If the ushers go to the chancel before the gathering of the gifts and again when the offerings are brought to the altar. They should not goose-step and march with military precision. This is no parade. Nothing beyond good order is required. No tramping of feet, snappy timing, or precise turning add to the spirit of worship and reverence.
Conclusion
This post is just a brief overview of the role of an usher—there’s a lot more to it! But we hope that it gives you some insight into what they do and why they’re so important. If you have any questions or would like further information, please feel free to reach out to us at any time. We’re here for you.