First Impressions Team Charter

MAYFLOWER CHURCH

First Impressions Team Charter

Streamline System 06 — Team Charters

DRAFT for consideration by the Servants Council at its meeting on July 11, 2026. Not yet ratified. Upon ratification this becomes a standing charter, reviewed at each August Leadership Summit and re-ratified on material change.

Governing Principle

The front door is a doorway into the body, not just into the building.

A guest is welcomed at the door, but the welcome is not finished there. This team opens the door warmly and walks the guest the whole way in, from the first hello to a place in the life of the church.

1. Oversight (the home)

Overseeing board: Elders. Day-to-day point person: Senior Pastor. Every team has a home; this team works first with the elders. First Impressions is under the elders because of its essential role in discipleship and assimilation, which is clearly elder oversight.

2. Purpose

This team exists to welcome guests at the Lord's Day gathering and to walk them into the life of the church. It carries both the warmth of the first welcome and the patient work of assimilation, so that a visitor is not merely greeted but is helped toward belonging, membership, and a place in the body.

3. Priority-ministry link

This team serves The Lord's Day Gathering (System 01) at the front door, and serves Membership and Shepherding Care as the church's assimilation pathway. It is the threshold where the two meet.

4. The Commission

The elders commission this team to welcome guests at the gathering and to assimilate them into the life of the church, on the steady weekly rhythm of the Lord's Day. The work has three parts. First, welcome: staff greeters and ushers each Sunday so that every guest is met, oriented, and helped to feel expected rather than noticed. Second, identify and follow up: build and run the systems that identify first-time guests, gather their information, and follow up promptly and warmly in the days after. Third, assimilate: coordinate welcome materials and new-member orientation, walking guests along the path from visitor toward membership and belonging. The team leader leads the weekly pre-service huddle that readies the Sunday welcome.

5. In scope / Out of scope

In scope:

• Staffing and training greeters and ushers for the Lord's Day gathering.
• Identifying and tracking first-time guests and following up with them promptly.
• Coordinating welcome materials and new-member orientation as part of the assimilation pathway.
• Leading the weekly pre-service huddle that readies the Sunday welcome.

Out of scope:

• The fellowship table, food, and coffee hour. That belongs to Hospitality, which carries the fellowship side of the Sunday welcome.
• Direct gospel witness and the evangelistic outreach itself. That belongs to Evangelism; this team hands new believers and gospel contacts into and receives them from that work (see Coordination).
• The long-term discipleship curriculum and the full membership process beyond orientation. That belongs to EQUIP Discipleship and the Baptism team; this team walks guests to the threshold and hands them in.

6. Scale

Shape: a permanent team built on a roster of greeters and ushers scheduled each Sunday, expanding for special services, drawing commitment categories from the Volunteer Chapter (System 06). The team recruits and trains a wide enough roster that the weekly welcome does not rest on the same few.

7. Key responsibilities

• Welcome, orient, and seat guests each Lord's Day through trained greeters and ushers.
• Run the systems that identify first-time guests and follow up with them promptly and warmly.
• Coordinate welcome materials and new-member orientation.
• Lead the weekly pre-service huddle that readies the Sunday welcome.
• Hand new believers and gospel contacts along the assimilation pathway, and receive them from Evangelism.
• Communicate with the elders on plans, guest feedback, and needs.

8. Coordination

• Hospitality (Deacons): partners on the Sunday welcome. First Impressions carries the welcome at the door; Hospitality carries the fellowship table that follows.
• Evangelism (Elders): the handoff of new believers and gospel contacts. First Impressions receives contacts the team meets at the gathering and hands new believers into follow-up; Evangelism hands its own contacts in for the Sunday welcome and connection.
• Baptism and EQUIP Discipleship (Elders): the assimilation pathway. First Impressions walks the guest to the threshold of membership and the ordinances and hands them into ongoing discipleship and the membership process.

9. Resources

Budget line: none specifically named; the team coordinates needs through the elders and with sibling teams. Facilities needs are coordinated with the Trustees. Scheduling and volunteer requests run through Planning Center.

10. Health indicators

Faithfulness-shaped signs the team is alive and serving well, not a headcount scoreboard. The year's specific targets live in the System 11 annual goals, set with the elders each August.

• First-time guests are met and oriented, and report being welcomed rather than overlooked.
• Guests are identified and followed up promptly, with few falling through.
• The path from visitor toward membership is walked, not merely opened, with handoffs to discipleship landing.
• The weekly welcome is staffed and the huddle runs without resting on the same few hands.

11. Review and approval

Standing charter, reviewed annually at the August Leadership Summit. Re-ratified by the Servants Council on material change. Escalation beyond the team's or elders' authority follows the Decision-Making Framework (System 09). Leadership succession follows the Leadership Handoff Guidelines (System 12). Review note for Anton: First Impressions is settled under the Elders because of its essential role in discipleship and assimilation, which is clearly elder oversight. Pending change: a proposal is going to the Servants Council on July 11, 2026 to move Sanctuary Preparation into the First Impressions Team. If that proposal is approved, this charter expands to absorb sanctuary preparation, and the Sanctuary Team Charter retires into it.

Commissioned by: Elder Chair ____________________________ Date __________

Ratified into the operations documentation by: Servants Council ____________________________ Date __________

Sources

• Mayflower Church Constitution and Bylaws, Art. II §B 1.c.2 (assimilation under the elders); Art. II §B 4.c.7 (Servants Council receives and approves Ministry Team charters).
• Streamline System 01 — The Five Priority Ministries We Guard; The Lord's Day Gathering and Membership and Shepherding Care.
• Streamline System 06 — Team-to-Board Oversight Map (table names Elders; summary prose raises the Deacon question); Volunteer Chapter (the team leader leads the weekly pre-service huddle; huddle guide held there, not reproduced).
• Streamline System 07 — Role Clarity, "23 — First Impressions Ministry Leader" (Accountable To: Board of Elders).
• Streamline System 09 — Decision-Making Framework; System 11 — Annual Goals; System 12 — Leadership Handoff Guidelines.
• Evangelism Team Charter (assimilation handoff boundary); Team Charter Standard, this folder.