By Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, OFM
Whether or not a church works hard for evangelisation can be seen at its entrance. Such a church will have a welcome banner prominently displaying a message of invitation that reads, “Are you searching for the meaning of life? Come and see!” with dates and times of different parish catechism classes listed next to it. It is obvious that the set up is meant to evangelise, taking into account how a non-believer or a stranger may feel when they enter the sanctuary. What impressed me most was that in one of the churches, the names of the pastoral staff were written at the entrance, so that a seeker of faith could feel a sense of closeness from the very first moment.
Some parishes are very creative and know how to make good use of resources for evangelisation. For example, a few chairs are placed at the corner of the entrance to give passers-by the convenience of taking a rest; or a large television is hung to broadcast a short video on evangelisation, so that those who are afraid to enter the church can learn a little about the parish community. Another thing that many parishes do is to put a bookshelf in the entrance hall and place some leaflets and publications of interest to the neighbours, such as those about health knowledge, community news, etc, to invite people to pick up the books. If such a bookshelf becomes a bookcrossing station, that would be quite good too.
Apart from the static decorations, the people serving inside are even more important. Who will you meet first when you enter? Is it the security guard or the brothers and sisters in charge of reception? Are the pastoral staff busy with their ministry or are they willing to listen? These are all very important.
Apart from the actual entrance, a phone call to the parish can be the first step for people to get in touch with the church. Imagine how much better the impression of the parish will be if one hears a courteous and respectful tone on the phone, and senses a patient and understanding attitude!
In today’s digital age, the first place people come into contact with the Church may be online in the virtual world. It is good to see that our parishes have colourful websites. But let’s ask this question: can people easily find a parish website? Once they find it, can they immediately find information on how to learn about faith on the homepage? Or are they presented with categories of text that only parishioners can understand? A further basic question: is the information on the parish website regularly updated? Does it respect privacy? Does it comply with the relevant laws and regulations? If some of the pictures of events shown are a few years old, some of the web links are long defunct or some of the people listed have long been replaced, it is not difficult to imagine what they might think of the parish!
The setting of an entrance is not just a superficial gesture. It requires a lot of thought, especially a strong sense of evangelisation. I wonder if parish renewal might also begin with the renewal of the main entrance.
