Thank you DKS.  I will keep this in mind for my new appointment.

Can I use your thread to gripe about white page listings of United Church congregations, although I know this applies to other denominations and organizations as well?

Good grief! Have any of you tried looking up the telephone number of either your local congregation or one in another town? If you're lucky, you'll go to the "U"s, scroll down to the "Un...." and find "United Church", followed by the full name of the congregation or pastoral charge. 

More likely, you won't find anything like this and then will try "google" or the newspaper or something that tells you that the nearest place of worship is, let's say, Dominion-Chalmers which you probably couldn't arrive at by guessing. I don't know how Dominion-Chalmers is actually listed in the Ottawa white pages but am using it as an example because I was there recently, so it's top of mind, and it doesn't have an obvious name. 

So, given that we have been working on welcome and deep inclusion, I offer this small, but pervasive, example of where we might be able to put ourselves in someone else's shoes...visitor, family member, someone reaching out...maybe their attempt at contact could be made a little easier...

The reason for this is deeply historic and goes back to the person who first had the telephone installed in the church.

When any telephone company isntalls a phone, they take the service address and the name for the account. If the person requesting the installation said, for example,  United Church Meaford, then the directory listing would appear that way in the white pages in the "U" section. If they had said "Meaford United Church", the listing would be under "M". The same is true in the Yellow Pages under "Churches - United".

It gets even messier when the church has no phone and the phone is in the name of the minister. That's one of the spin-offs of having basic telephone service paid for by the pastoral charge. Often the listing can be "United Church Manse" . And don't even start with cell phones which have no directory listing (which is why it's a dumb idea to use a cell phone as a church office phone, IMHO).  

I once tried to develop a co-operative Yellow Pages listing for al United Churches in the area, but gave it up because trying to organize it was like trying to herd kittens... not to mention the billing problem.

I hear you on this...but, nevertheless, it's craziness. 

Here is udder madness IMO

Rural charge (entire charge) not listed in the phone book and without a phone.

This to "save money" on the budget, while having money in savings and "investments".

The person who drives by sees no number. It is not on any signage and neither is the time of service.

The person looking for the number in a phone book finds no number.

The person searching online finds no number (unless they knew to look in the Presbytery, assuming they knew not only that the UCC HAS Presbyteries but also knowing the NAME of the Presbytery in a Conference reshuffle that changed the name not long back... Oh, It also borders two Conferences and some UCC regulars do not even know what Conference it is actually in..... If they knew all they might know, they might find  a contact # perhaps)

The ONLY place to find the number is in the local newspaper.  Now, you still need to know the pastoral charge name(in large print) or the name of the church (small print) In one church's case, you have to know the actual congregation name since it does not even reflect the name of the town. The charge name actually is a town name WITHOUT a UCC church anymore. If you journey this far, you spot the number. It is not labelled as "clergy's home phone number" or "clergy office" and it is an exchange in a town 1/2 hour to 45 minutes up the road.

My guess would be you say, "this can't be it".

Madness

Exactly my point, SG!

Interesting that they still advertise in a newspaper (mind you, I'm no example; we do, too). The church tombstones in our newspaper are now down to five; the three United Churches, the Presbyterians and the Alliance Church.