All Saints: Usher Guidelines

Usher Guidelines

First of all, we would like to thank you for volunteering to be an usher at All Saints. The following outline lists the duties you need to carry out as an usher. Please read them carefully, because there have been a few changes from last year. If you have any questions please contact Keith Gundersen (first service coordinator) or David Tooredman (second service coordinator).

Arrive at church 20 minutes prior to the service. Ushers for the 8:30am service will unlock the front door and turn on the appropriate lights and fans.
Check the pew racks for an adequate supply of pink prayer request cards, special offering envelopes and pencils.
Put on your name tag and usher pin...and your best smile. Greet the people coming in with either a "good morning" or a "hello" while handling them a bulletin.
During the Pastor's announcements, entrance hymn, or hymn of the day, collect any pink prayer cards from the congregation and deliver them to the pastor. Return to rear and close all doors.
Seat all late comers at the appropriate times, indicated in the bulletin by an asterisk. Never seat late comers during the prayer or sermon.
Attendance count is to be taken for each service. Make note of the number of adults, the number of children (12 years and younger) and the combined total. These three figures should be entered on the statistical sheet of the day, which is located in the secretary's office. Count all people present, including the nursery, the pastors, choir, and don't forget the ushers.
For the Children's Sermon, if the nursery attendants miss the request for the children to come, an usher should advise the attendants promptly.
For the Offering, ushers proceed two by two up the center aisle to the altar. Collect the offering plates from the acolyte, front ushers hand a plate to rear ushers. Split up to collect the offering. The ushers to the right should start the offering collection from the far right pews first, then move to the center pews. Start your collection from the first pew and work your way to the rear. If there are only a few people in a pew, accept their offering, then you should pass it to the next alternate row. All users should meet in the narthex, combine the plates, and then proceed to the altar after the congregation stands.
Communion tends to be the one area where ushers become confused. Please review the drawing here to see where you should be standing. Ushers 1 and 3 will invite the parishioners up for communion, ten at a time. When the bread has been distributed to the group at the altar rail, start inviting more people to line up. Ushers 2 and 4 will be standing at the head of the pews and controlling the flow of people up to the altar. Ushers 2 and 4 should wait until the table is cleared before sending a new group up to the altar rail. This will help control traffic jams. Ushers 3 and 4 will usher people up from both the far right and middle sections of pews. Remember, everyone exits the pew from the left and reenters the pew from the right. NOTE: If the choir is not singing during communion, usher 2 will direct the choir to be the first to take communion. Wait until the choir is done with communion before inviting the other parishioners up to the communion rail.
Do not allow people, including yourself, to walk around in the narthex. This is very distracting to the Pastor and the people seated in the rear pews. One usher should remain in the narthex should anyone require assistance. The others should sit in the rear middle pew and participate in the service when they are not performing an usher duty. The rear middle pew should be marked with a "reserved" sign. All ushers are urged to participate in the service.
After each service has concluded, two users should go through the pews and pick up all bulletins, papers, and pencils. After the second service, one usher should empty the hot water pot and a second should empty the coffee pot and wipe up the serving area.

Last updated: March 28, 2008 . Contact webmaster@allsaintspalatine.org with questions/comments.