ACE Team Procedure Outline (Assimilation, Connection, Evangelism)

PROGRAM OUTLINE

Purpose: To develop a program both within the PCUMC congregation and beyond to
help people grow through participation and knowledge.

There are three phases or initiatives included in ACE:

I. ASSIMILATION (and orientation of new members)

II. CONNECTION (with all members of PCUMC)

A. Members who have joined within the past two years
B. Longer term members who attend sporadically
C. All other members (including those known to be very active).

III. EVANGELISM (Touching souls and reaching outward)

NOTE: All three phases of outreach are based on a mentorship or “buddy” system in
that the person making contact will need to follow through and assure that the
appropriate contacts are made and the individual with whom contact is made is
assimilated into the area or group of their interest(s). To rely on others to always make
contact with leaders of various ministries or groups may often result in disappointment
and disillusionment.

ORGANIZATION
There will need to be three teams, one for each phase, all within the organization of the
ACE Team Chair. The following chart will show anticipated committee positions
required.

ACE Team Chair

_________ _________|_________ _______
| | |
Assimilation Connection Evangelism
Coordinator Coordinator Coordinator

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I. ASSIMILATION (and orientation of new members)

Sunday –
An invitation will be extended to all new visitors to raise their hands so we may give
them a gift and information about PCUMC which clearly identifies our church and
mission. For example, a coffee mug, tote bag, pen or even packaged gourmet coffee or
some other gift with our logo and website on it. People appreciate the recognition of a
small gift, so we want to help them remember it was from PCUMC, making sure the our
name and logo is prominently displayed on the gift.

NOTE: The Assimilation Coordinator will work with the head ushers at each service each
week in an effort to be sure all ushers are well trained in this important phase. Make
the first impression process amazing. Remember….We only get one chance to make a
first impression. We need to make a new visitor’s experience unforgettable………
excellent . . . amazing!!!!

STRONGLY encourage visitors to fill out a pink connection card.

Monday –
Carol McCullough, Membership Secretary, or Mary Lou Peck will enter all attendance
information into the CCIS database, making special note of new visitors or those noting
an interest in joining PCUMC. Copies of the attendance pad pages for those persons will
be provided to the Pastor and to the Assimilation coordinator. The Pastor will attempt
to call each person as time permits. The Assimilation coordinator will follow up with a
handwritten note or email as noted below and will follow up with a phone call later in
the week. Those indicating a sincere interest in becoming members will also be
forwarded to the ACE (Evangelism) chair, who will also make personal contact.

Tuesday –
The Assimilation Coordinator should write a personal note to each new visitor.

Wednesday – Friday
The assimilation Coordinator should try to call each new visitor for which a phone
number is available. Many people don’t answer their phones because they don’t
recognize the calling number, so always leave a message and tell the person who your,
why you are calling and invite them to call you back. It is important to express gratitude
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for their having visited PCUMC. Please assure them that there is no pressure to call back
unless they want to ask a question. That way, they have no pressure to talk if they have
no desire to do so.

When making direct phone contact, it is suggested that people are always asked if they
have any questions or thoughts about the church, and then conclude the conversation
by asking, “So, do you think you’ll be back again this Sunday?”, or “We sure hope to see
you again this coming Sunday”.

New Member Class –

Continue to encourage folks to join a small group such as Sunday School, Bible Study,
Grief Share, Choir, etc. and strongly encourage them to attend your next new members’
class. Push them to a small group over and over. This will help them grow closer to Jesus
and connect with others in the church. The new members’ class will help you to really
push them into complete assimilation unlike anything else.

Coordinate with each group leader for which they express interest to invite them to
their group. It is the joint responsibility of the Assimilation Coordinator and the ACE
Team Chair to “buddy” with each individual to assure face-to-face communication with
the group leader is achieved.

The New Member Class will essentially involve 4 people.

1. Carol McCullough will prepare the new member packets and be available, if
possible, to go through the packets at the class.
2. The Assimilation Coordinator will introduce each class participant giving some
background of each person and provide the opening welcome.
3. The Pastor will be present to greet each class participate and share in whatever
portion of the class they desire to participate, if any.
4. The ACE Team chair will present the background on the United Methodist Church
if the Pastor does not handle this segment. If the Pastor handles this segment,
the ACE Team chair will provide the background of PCUMC and make sure each
person thoroughly fills out the personal information documents.
5. If the ACE Team chair provides the United Methodist Church background, the
Assimilation Coordinator will handle the PCUMC portion.

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NOTE: The CCIS system has been updated to the cloud which will ultimately enable
access from our home computers (AFTER WE HAVE BEEN THOROUGHLY TRAINED). In
order to provide meaningful concise reports to Coordinators, Carol and Mary Lou will be
updating listings and reclassifying members and attendees as follows:

Visitor: One who has only attended once or twice or for whom no contact information
is available. Often these are also folks who are visiting friends or relatives in the area.

Constituent: Those who regularly attend but are not members. This category includes
seasonal people who regularly attend while in the area, but are not members.

Affiliate Member: Members who are also members of another United Methodist
Church.
Associate Member: Members who are also members of another church that is not a
United Methodist Church.

Full Member: Those members who have no membership affiliation with any other
church.

II. CONNECTION (with all members of PCUMC)

A. Connection with Members who have joined within the past 18

months

Step 1 –
Carol McCullough, Membership Secretary, or Mary Lou Peck will provide a report
showing all new members during the past 18 months.

Step 2 –
The Connections Coordinators will ultimately contact all persons who are members or
regular attendees, beginning with those identified as not being assimilated into a small
group or ministry. The PCUMC Activities and Interests questionnaire will be handed out
by the greeters for a period of 2 weeks along with the bulletin.

When calling folks, whether they have returned their questionnaire or not, the
suggested phone script should be somewhat like the following:

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1. Identify yourself and state that you are from the Port Charlotte United Methodist
Church.

2. Note that the reason you are calling is that we are trying to update our database of
all members and their activities or interests.

3. First, ask for the person if they have received a copy of the PCUMC Activities and
Interests questionnaire. If not, offer to send them a copy or, if you wish, ask them to list
church activities in which they currently participate such as worship attendance, Sunday
School, bible study, or other activity while you fill out the questionnaire.
(See attachment)

4. Next, ask folks to talk about their personal interests, explaining that it is our desire to
know interests and hobbies in order to know how to better structure PCUMC programs
and services. Perhaps note that we are interested in things such as gardening, concerts,
reading, golf, music performance, handyman work, computers, boating, fishing, cooking,
learning new things, square dancing or ballroom dancing, etc. Listing those interests
may be valuable in assisting folks to find small groups of which they are unaware, but in
which they may have an interest,
1. __________________
2. __________________
3. __________________
4. __________________
5. __________________
6. __________________
7. __________________

5. Mention that there are many activities and missions taking place at PCUMC each
week. Offer to send a copy of our Ministries Pamphlet if they do not have one, or even
take it to their home, whichever would be most convenient for them.

6. Last, be sure to inquire if there are any activities of which they are already aware for
which they might appreciate your assistance in helping them make contact with the
person in charge of the activity or ministry.
1. __________________
2. __________________
3. __________________
4. __________________
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Close with thanking them for their time and repeat your desire to assist in any way to
make their worship and fellowship experience at PCUMC even better.

Repeat your name again and offer your contact information:

Name:__________________
Phone # :_____________________
Email:_______________________

NOTE #1: It is extremely important that you follow up and make personal
introductions face-to-face with members who are interested in any activity
and the person who is in charge of the activity.

B. Longer term members who attend sporadically

This activity will be exactly as defined above after all the newer members have been
contacted. Again, a report of sporadic attendance will be provided.

C. All Remaining Members

This activity will be exactly as defined above until all members information has been
obtained and entered into the data base.

Step 3 –

It is critically important to make sure that all information received in the

above steps be given to Mary Lou Peck and/or Carol McCullough who will
enter the information into the CCIS data base.

III. Evangelism (Touching souls and reaching outward)

This phase under the direction of the Evangelism Coordinator(s) is both very broad and
of critical importance if we are to be effective in reaching out to the Port Charlotte and
surrounding communities. The Evangelism Coordinator(s) will need to structure a
committee to deal with a myriad of issues including, but not limited to, the following:

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1. Work with staff and assist with placement of all media advertisements and Public
Relations announcements.

2. Provide support as needed to the Coordinator of the Annual Fall Extravaganza.

3. Assist youth and child ministries in reaching out to parents of children within their
respective programs.

4. Examine feasibility of working with middle schools to provide a program for “latch
key” students structured and staffed totally with volunteers.

5. Consider feasibility and coordination for house-to-house canvassing within the

immediate neighborhood.

6. Develop a “handyman service” to help people in need of minor services both

within the congregation and the community.

7. Have a designated person who will represent PCUMC by attending community

meetings such as the Chamber of Commerce, etc.

8. Work with developing a few people to actively greet and visit with all attendees
of WNO and Men’s Breakfast and other community outreach activities to make
sure that all who come know how much their attendance is appreciated and
invitations to worship services and other activities are graciously extended.

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