Many ask, “How can I help?”
There are many ways to help in worship at St. John’s.
- Assisting Minister
- Acolytes
- Cantors – Please contact a pastor if you are interested in being a cantor.
- Choirs
- Communion Assistants
- Communion set up/clean up
- Greeters
- Sunday School teachers/assistants
- Readers
- Ushers
What do you do?
GREETING
Greeters are appreciated as individuals walk into church at the front door and
Sanctuary. Greeters arrive 15 minutes before the early or late service. They welcome
members and visitors with a smile and choice of welcoming words like “Good morning”
or “welcome.” Volunteering as a greeter is positive experience.
COMMUNION ASSISTANT
Prior to the service, find a robe from the closet in the first room after the nursery in the
education hall. During the service, come forward (robed) to the altar area when the
pastor extends the invitation. The pastor will serve communion to you and the other
worship leaders first. Communion is by intinction: hold the wafer and dip it in the wine
chalice.
When directed by the pastor, get a tray of wine/juice from the side altar and station
yourself between the pastor and the cup discard basket. As congregants come forward,
they first receive the wafer from the pastor, next they come to your station where they
take a cup and you say "The blood of Christ shed for you.”
After people finish coming forward, you may be asked to go with a pastor to give
communion to those in their seat. Either you or the pastor returns the tray to the side
altar table and you return to your seat (you can take off your robe).
USHER
Arrive 20 minutes before the service begins.
Hand out bulletins and greet the people as they come in. Let people know we have
individual communion packs located on the back table by the sanctuary doors for
anyone who desires to use them.
If service has started and people are having a hard time finding a place to sit, please
assist them.
During the sermon, go up to the choir loft and count all the people in the sanctuary,
choir loft, and nursery (including pastors, assisting ministers, and acolytes). Record the
number in the little black book in the usher’s closet at the bottom of the stairs.
For the offering collection, two ushers walk up the center aisle to receive plates from the
acolyte. The other two walk up the outside aisle. Plates are passed back and forth to
collect offering. After the collection, two ushers take the plates back to the acolyte. On
the 2 nd Sunday of the month, ushers bring forth the food pantry basket with the offering
plates and place it in front of the baptismal font.
The pastors will commune those on Zoom and those using the individual communion
packs first. Once they are communed, two ushers will walk up and down the aisles to
collect any empty individual communion packs.
Then all four ushers walk up the center aisle while the pastors are communing the
acolytes and other volunteers. The first two ushers commune first and then proceed to
the altar to exchange empty trays with full ones, as needed. The back two ushers let the
congregation out pew by pew. If there are more people on one side, the first usher
finished starts in back on the opposite side and asks them to go down the other side to
even things out. These two ushers follow them and commune last. If some people are
unable to go up for communion, point them out to the pastors so they can receive
communion in the pews.
When church is over, pick up bulletins and papers left in the pews. Check friendship
folders and remove the first sheet of paper if they are signed. Put these papers and
bulletins in the closet.
Refill friendship pads or Kleenex between services if needed. Both can be found in the
ushers’ closet on the floor below the shelves.
CANTOR
The role of a cantor is to lead the psalm. The cantor typically sings the odd verses solo,
and the congregation joins on the odd verses. Sometimes, there is an antiphon (refrain)
sung before the body of the psalm. In this case, the cantor sings it once through and the
congregation joins the second time. If the lead musician plays downstairs, the cantor
sings from the pulpit. If the lead musician plays upstairs, the cantor sings from the
balcony.
COMMUNION SET-UP/CLEAN-UP
There is a detailed description for setting and cleaning up communion located in the
sacristy (little room off of the sanctuary). If you are interested in helping with this, please
contact Marilyn Herschleb – mherschleb2@yahoo.com
READER
After the Prayer of the Day or special music, walk up to the pulpit with your bulletin or
copy of the readings sent to you in the mail. Begin the reading by saying, “A reading
from (name of book), the (#) chapter. End the reading by saying, “The Word of the
Lord.” Then sit next to the pastor or assisting minister while the Cantor leads the Psalm.
After the Psalm, return to the pulpit to read the second reading (say the same things
written above before and after the reading). Then return to your seat.
Sometimes biblical words and phrases are tough to pronounce and feel like a mouthful.
Connect with a pastor if you need help before the service begins and do your best!
Frequently the pastors have to look up the pronunciations too.
Contact Kathy Lovell if you’d like to be put on the readers’ list. – lovellkat@yahoo.com
COFFEE
Please contact Linda Michaels if you’d like to serve coffee. She will talk with you before
your day of serving so you can go through all of the details together. There are also
multiple copies of detailed instructions about how/when/what to do! –
tmichaels8286@charter.net
ASSISTING MINISTER
Please contact Pastor Sally with any questions related to Assisting Minister. She will
review the responsibilities in advance of your day of service to make sure you feel
comfortable and confident in your leadership – sally@stjohnssaukprairie.org
YOUTH WORSHIP JOBS
Please contact Penny Johnson with any questions related to Youth worship jobs –
penny@stjohnssaukprairie.org
It takes a few people to have our church services run smoothly. During the past year, we have added an online sign up for the jobs of communion assistant, communion set up, ushers and greeters. Just click on the link below and it will take you to the sign up page:
Or, you can still sign up on the kiosk, reach out to the church office, or directly contact the following people on the Lay Ministry Board to sign up:
Ushers: Gina Varley, glv1205@gmail.com 608-963-0325
Communion Assistant: Mary Weeks, meweeks0727@gmail.com 608-643-0656
Communion Set up/clean up: Marilyn Herschleb, mherschleb2@yahoo.com 608-943-6181
Greeters: Cheryl Sprecher, sprechercheryl@gmail.com 608-220-5494
Readers: Kathy Lovell, lovellkat@yahoo.com
Acolytes: Penny Johnson, penny@stjohnssaukprairie.org
Assisting Minister and Cantors: Pastor Sally, sally@stjohnssaukprairie.org
Choirs and Cantors: Ruellene Seymour, ruellene@stjohnssaukprairie.org
Sunday School Teachers/Aides: Sunday School Superintendents, sundayschool@stjohnssaukprairie.org
None of these jobs are very difficult and involve very minimal training. But it does take the help of others to make our worship experience enjoyable. Please consider these opportunities! Let us know how you would like to participate – it is also a great way to get to know fellow members.
