Q. Our members aren't as good as they should be about greeting visitors. How can we encourage them to do better?

A. Roy M. Oswald and Speed B. Leas, in their book, The Inviting Church, A Study of New Member Assimilation (Alban Institute, 1997), report that one congregation handled this situation by putting the two following notices in the Order of Service:

Notice to Visitors: People who attend St. Mark's regularly are for the most part kind and friendly people, but they tend to be a bit shy and self-conscious with strangers. They are afraid of greeting people they think are new and discovering that "the visitors" have been attending St. Mark's for years. So please help. Identify yourself to the people nearest you and ask them to tell you about our church.

Notice to St. Mark's Members: Please do your best to make everyone feel welcome. Always introduce yourself to the people sitting near you if you don't know their names. To avoid the embarrassment of mistaking a longtime member for a visitor, use the following ploy: "Good morning. My name is ____________. I've been coming to St. Mark's for _________(years/weeks). How about you?"

Greeters should also find out a little about visitors, without prying, then try to connect them with people and/or small groups with similar interests. In a study done by Oswald and Leas, they found that visitors were looking for 1) a warm, welcoming, caring community; 2) meaningful worship and sermons; and 3) a family place for children. If you're not sure what visitors are looking for, just assume those three things, say Oswald and Leas.

Q. We are developing a policy on accepting gifts to our congregation. We want to accept them, but many come with stringent conditions and restrictions. What should we do?

A. Congregations should develop and publicize a policy informing potential donors that the church reserves the right to accept or decline unsolicited gifts and that some gifts may be returned or otherwise disposed of if they are considered unsuitable, says the Rev. Ralph Mero, the UUA's church staff finances director.

Ask that gifts be unrestricted so that they can be used for "the mission or programs of the congregation." This is especially so in the case of gifts to the endowment. It also clearly makes the gifts tax deductible.

On the other hand, sometimes special gifts may be solicited for specific causes such as social action projects, supporting a local community cause, supporting a seminary student, emergency facility repairs that have not been budgeted, etc.

Q. One of our new members, an accountant, says we should have an audit of the church books. What should that cost?

A. With audit fees now frequently approaching $7,000 to $15,000 for modest sized organizations, few non-profits can afford a full-blown audit every year, unless an accountant-member of the organization is willing to do it at a discounted fee, says Ralph Mero, the UUA's church staff finances director.

Sometimes, a much less expensive "management review" can be performed by an accountant or experienced bookkeeper, says Mero. Such a review of the cash management and other financial procedures is often sufficient to assure that the board has met its fiduciary responsibility and that the books are accurately maintained.