What are you actually welcoming people into?
Why welcome is more than the first interaction
How do people experience you?
This week in Substack Seminary, we’re asking questions around welcome and ministry, specifically:
How do people first experience your ministry? And what are you inviting them into?
In the opening post, Fr. Cathie Caimano shared three “Models of Welcome” drawn from Orthodox, Quaker, and Anglican traditions: the Sacred Sanctuary Model, the Neighborhood Model, and the Shared Activity Model.
She noted that many ministries contain elements of each, then asked:
“Which is closest to yours? Or do you have another way of welcoming people into life with God?”
I’m excited about this question, if only because I’m taking a very different—and far less liturgical—approach than my high-church counterpart Cathie.
What came to my mind was a sales funnel.
From sales funnel to ministry pathway
A sales funnel is essentially a map of a customer’s journey—from first becoming aware of an organization through stages like interest, decision, and action.
I was working on something similar recently for Green Room Leaders, a Christian nonprofit I consult with. Instead of a sales funnel, I’ve been calling it the GRL Pathway.
The question is essentially the same as Cathie’s:
How do people enter into relationship with us, and where are we inviting them to go from there?
For Green Room Leaders, worship leaders and churches tend to enter the organization’s orbit in a couple of ways. Sometimes the organization reaches out directly to worship leaders and begins building relationships. Other times, a church comes looking for help filling an immediate worship leadership need.
And that second entry point has been particularly interesting.
An entry point is not the destination
A church might approach the organization because they need someone to lead worship next Sunday.
But Green Room Leaders doesn’t ultimately want to be a fill-in musician service. The larger goal is to strengthen worship leaders, ministries, and ultimately the culture of the churches they serve.
The immediate need is the entry point. It isn’t necessarily what you are inviting people into.
That distinction matters.
If someone comes to you needing a musician next Sunday, they probably don’t want to immediately hear your pitch for technical consulting or a year-long cohort.
Welcome begins by recognizing why someone walked through the door in the first place.
Messengers and Matchmakers for God
Quarter 3, Week 1 Conversation: How is your ministry actually ministry?
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Welcome requires a pathway
But good ministry also asks what might come next.
Once you understand how people first experience your ministry, you can begin building a pathway appropriate to that entry point.
What do they need right now?
What relationship needs to develop next?
What deeper need might emerge over time?
And ultimately, what are you inviting them into?
This is where I think the language of a sales funnel actually has something to teach us.
Welcome isn’t simply opening the door. It’s thinking intentionally about where the door leads.
'We can start something new, but we need to stay connected'
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Why this matters for Substack Seminary
This is exactly the kind of work we’re doing in Substack Seminary: taking seriously both the theology and the mechanics of ministry.
Because it’s not enough to say, “Everyone is welcome.”
We also need to know how people find us, what they encounter when they arrive, and where we’re hoping to go together.
If you’re building or reimagining a ministry and need help creating that pathway, join us.
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