| New Parishioner Party |
| New Parishioner Party |
“A new baby.”“Found it by accident.”
“Kids needed a church community.”
“Invited by a partner.”
“Experienced difficult event in my life.”
These are some of the reasons that led parishioners to St. Joan’s. Wednesday, November 8th, 73 of us new parishioners gathered in Hospitality Hall to be officially welcomed into the St. Joan of Arc Community. And a warm welcome it was!
The evening began with a common thread game that was developed by Frank and Kathy DuRocher. New parishioners mingled with the 14 volunteers, staff, and two priests and we tried to discover more about one another. We circulated with our checklist, trying to find the most initials on the grid. Who was a jogger (or quite often not)? What kind of pets in the house? Who had a family member in the nursery? Who liked camping? More than mere socializing over yummy appetizers, this icebreaker was designed to get everyone talking about the common threads we share in our faith journey.
“We really switched formats,” commented staff member and New Parishioner Party Coordinator, Steve Friedrichs. ”Last year we had 127 new parishioners and it was just chaos, yet the parish council really wanted to have people talk to each other about what had brought them to St. Joan.” Steve explained how the parish council had decided to host two new parishioner parties as a way to eliminate the chaos; the second will be March 7, 2007. The decision to create two parties a year appeared to work. Steve said later in a follow-up interview: “The conversations were really good. All week the staff have been talking about it. They really enjoyed it. It just gives everyone a really solid connection. They [the staff] were able to say who they sat with, who was in the new parishioners’ families, how they got to St. Joan’s and what they did for a living.”
Norine Larson, emceed the evening and welcomed everyone before introducing the members of the Parish Council. They and volunteers sat at every table. “Volunteers just love this event because they have a chance to get out and meet everyone, “ said Steve. He explained that they’d limited the number of volunteers so that everyone could play an active role in the evening.
After Fr. Jim DeBruycker gave the blessing having us sing “The Doxology” as a “tribute to our Lutheran friends,” we helped ourselves to dinner brought in by TLC Catering. Volunteers and Parish council members helped parents balance plates and negotiate highchairs into place.
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| Tom Smith-Myott admits he left home at age 14. |
The children, many of whom had gone off to play in the nursery, reappeared in force when they heard that prizes were being awarded for asking good questions. Although several adults asked questions (such as “How do I become involved with the music program?” Steve Kremer encourage him to contact Anna Vagle) the kids rallied with questions about how many cookies were consumed each week (about 900), how hard it was to run the preschool program (a lot of work but the great volunteers helped create a wonderful and fun program) to what was the capitol of California (Sacramento—the last two questions successfully fielded by Christine Patlan, Preschool Co-Coordinator and former Californian).
My favorite part was watching my oldest child, Genesis, usually shy and quiet in new situations, take photos for this article. She lined up children to pose, explained to adults why she wanted to take their pictures, asked questions throughout the evening, and worked diligently framing and focusing the camera. This transformation, I realized, is part of the faith journey that we all make and is a tribute to how St. Joan’s fosters us all.
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