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| (Updated 06/08/2009)
Usher Directions
1. Arrival Time
8:00 a.m. service ushers should arrive by 7:45 a.m.
9:30 a.m. ushers should arrive by 9:10
10:45 a.m. ushers should arrive at 10:15 a.m.
2. Where to stand & what to do
- 3 ushers should be at the main doors in the upper narthex by the fountain
- 1 usher should be outside the parlor across from the elevator (This person should stay here until after first hymn.)
- As people come to you greet them with a Good Morning and offer them a bulletin.
- You may ask children if they desired a children’s bulletin, and show them where to get them.
- People with small children may be asked if they know about the crying room and the nursery that is available. Also that there is a children’s sermon after which many children go down to the nursery.
- Late people may need assistance in finding a seat. They can always be directed around to the far side by going through the parlor. Do not be afraid to go with them into the sanctuary to help them find a seat. Please be aggressively friendly.
3. Doors
- After the announcements begin please close all but one door to the sanctuary.
- The doors should remain closed until the beginning of the last hymn, and then they may be propped open again.
4. Offering
- All 4 ushers should walk out from the side to the center, in front of the communion railing.
- Receive the plates from the acolyte
- Begin collecting the offering on the two sides if there are people sitting in these areas.
- Ushers should always work in pairs, standing on the outside of the rows.
- Once the sides are finished, begin in the center section and work back
- Two ushers will carry two plates each, and the other two will carry the communion elements (one the bread and one the pitcher).
- The two with the communion elements should come up first and walk to the left side of the center, to the pastor who will take the elements at the communion railing.
- The two with the offering plates should simply stop in the center and place the plates in the basin, held by the acolyte.
- You may then return to your seats.
5. Communion
- Two ushers will work each of the two sides.
- One usher will hold the communion tray for the people coming forward. This usher should also direct the people to move to the railing, and assist them on where they should go. When they begin they should start at the far end of the communion railing, closest to the choir, then filling to the front.
- The other usher should begin inviting the people in the pews to come forward using the side aisle. Some may not wish to come forward, and that is fine.
- Keep a steady flow of people coming forward as we now do communion in a continuous mode.
- Once the center section has communed, move to the side sections. Both ushers need to move to the far side of these, closest to the choir. Communion trays are located here also.
- If the other side finishes, please feel free to direct people to go to the opposite side for communion. Again, they will need your assistance in knowing where to go.
- We would also ask that you count the number of people in the church at this time. 10:45 Later someone needs to go down to the nursery to get the count down there. Record these numbers in the book found on the table in the narthex.
- Please place the lid back on the trays when communion is finished.
- Ushers should commune last.
6. After The Service
- Make sure you have recorded the attendance in the attendance book.
- Please go through the pews and chairs to place hymnals in their proper slots, and pull out any loose papers and/or leftover bulletins.
- Find the red attendance books and put them at the end of the pews (by the center aisle in the middle section, and on the end opposite the choir on the side sections) 
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