HARRISVILLE — When members of Harrisville United Methodist Church say "You're welcome,"they mean it — and now they have proof.

The church was recently recognized as an official welcoming congregation by United Methodist Communications, also known as UMCom.

The denomination's communications agency, UMCom recognizes a select group of congregations nationwide as "welcoming."Those congregations meet a list of criteria, including methods of embracing newcomers and providing opportunities in discipleship.

"We really felt this is where our ministry needs to be,"said the Rev. Jeff St. Clair of Harrisville United Methodist. He explained his church had seen recent figures stating that between 60 and 80 percent of people in the United States are unchurched.

They set to work to change that in their community even before knowing of the possibility of the welcoming congregation distinction.

"For the longest time, we had the attitude that people will just come to church. That's not the case anymore,"St. Clair said. "Many of these people would come if asked, we found out."

Worshipping with between 125 and 150 each Sunday, the church has a welcoming team of about 15 and has had nearly 30 visitors in the past month.

The congregation has grown in membership by 20 percent in the past three years, and 80 percent of that increase was received by profession of faith, or people new to Christianity.

The congregation's efforts to bring people in focus partly on community events in which the church in general has been underrepresented. The congregation entered a float in Monday's Memorial Day parade in Harrisville, and several weeks ago, during a day of townwide yard sales, members went through the community giving away bottles of water, popcorn, key chains and information about their church.

"The people in town just couldn't get over somebody was giving away free stuff,"St. Clair said.

When they decide to give the church a try, first-time visitors receive a gift pack, and members of the welcoming team make house calls the week following the initial visit.

Connie Hagan, chair of the church's outreach committee, said the possibility of the welcoming congregation distinction came to the committee's attention after UMCom sent them a survey worksheet to measure their outreach methods.

The survey addressed things such as training volunteers who greet visitors, providing visitor parking and signage in the church building, laity and clergy follow-up and assimilation of newcomers.

The church scored high on the survey, Hagan said.

"We were already doing these things,"she said. "Our big goal is discipling and reaching out to others who aren't necessarily members of the church."

Since it was in line with what church members were already doing, the welcoming congregation program was embraced. More effort was put into making non-members comfortable in the church.

St. Clair explained his congregation has been given the distinction on the ground level. As time goes on, the program is set up to take a church deeper into its commitment to welcoming visitors and encouraging their discipleship.

UMCom launched the program in 2000 as part of a larger initiative to use modern technology and television to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Harrisville church joined 341 others in the United Methodist denomination that have received the welcoming congregation distinction.

Aaron Kerr, senior pastor at Stone United Methodist Church in Meadville, said the program has helped his congregation, which has been involved in it for several years.

"It's been somewhat effective to raise the consciousness of how to be hospitable in this world,"he said.

Pews, pulpits and hymnals are not always familiar to people coming into the church nowadays, he said.

"It seems strange to people who have not been inculcated with the Christian worldview,"said Kerr.

"People are eager to be ushers or greeters, but there's still a need for training. We always have to be working to train people to be hospitable to people different than they are. It's not easy these days."

Kerr said members of his congregation are preparing to take the next level of training associated with the program. The training is given out of the United Methodist Conference Center in Cranberry Township.