Hard to get: What time are your services?
There was a church that took over an abandoned post-office and turned the exterior into a nice presentable place. It looked sharp, clean, and with fresh paint and landscaping, it was attracting my attention.
During the renovations, a Spanish sign for the church went up and my interest grew.
But the sign had no service times, just the church name.
Since the church was in my normal commuting patterns, I would drive by at least 3-4 times a day. I took note of when people seemed to gather at the church — it was hard to say if there were any gatherings during the day or week.
I tried to find the church’s website via google — none existed.
One day, I drove into the church parking lot, to see if there were service hours posted on the door. The only lettering on the door was the phone number for the church office.
I called the number and got a generic message. Something like “Hi, and thank for calling XYZ Presbycostal church of Nowhere. Please leave a message.”
No service times.
I left a message in both English and Spanish requesting a call back with service times. I made sure to leave a phone number.
Weeks pass. No return phone call.
Once again, I call a few weeks later. Same routine. No live person to answer the phone, no service times.
This happens two more times over the course of several more weeks.
After what feels like three months, I finally get a return phone call from the pastor, telling me about the Sunday morning service and its time.
We make it to the morning service.
If we had not been determined to visit, we would have gone elsewhere because it was too hard to find the time for worship services.
Lessons to consider:
- Does your exterior signage tell potential visitors what time your services are?
- Can a visitor find your website?
- Does your website tell the visitor when and where your services are?
- If a visitor calls for information, does someone answer the phone, or does your outgoing message communicate service times?
Do your informational brochures list service times?
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[...] Worship Service times are not on the telephone responder, [...]