Although not quite as formal, ushers in Northwest Arkansas churches play an important role in weekly worship services.
At various churches, ushers -- and also greeters -- hand out bulletins, make name tags for visitors and guide them to open seats, collect the offering, help with Communion services, direct traffic in the parking lot, light wicks for acolytes and other tasks.
"They might hold an umbrella or help the young mother with a book bag and three toddlers," said the Rev. Dixon Platt of Elm Springs United Methodist Church.
"They arrive early to set up the sanctuary and stay late to clean it up," said the Rev. Georgia Senor, associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Bentonville. "They're ready to jump in and do whatever it takes to get through worship."
Ushers are important "to ensure the service goes well and to ensure everyone feels welcome and attended to," said Jim Harter, the head usher at First United Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville.
Senor reported the results of a study: "The No. 1 reason people come back to a church is the personal warmth they feel," she said. "It's not the preaching, it's not the music. It's not the building or the style of the worship service.
The main purpose of the ushers at her church is "to extend Christian hospitality to every single person in the building on Sunday morning."
"I tell (ushers) they are the first face of St. Thomas," said the Rev. Pamela Morgan, pastor of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Springdale. "When (visitors) set one foot across the threshold into St. Thomas, they need to feel the spirit."
"They're more than just your daddy's usher," Platt said. "There are fewer and fewer people who have never been in a church before. It's a strange environment to them."
The Elm Springs church campus includes four buildings, he added, and ushers guide and walk visitors to the various places, be it a Sunday school room, the restroom or the sanctuary.
"Ushering is a ministry area we take for granted, but that is so important," Senor continued.
It hearkens back to Scripture, she said. "There's strong theological evidence that everyone is part of the family of God."
NAN Religion on 07/25/2015