Evangelism Coach

First time here? Thanks for dropping by. Get our Monthly Newsletter and get a free article on hospitality. Keep your evangelism passion high by subscribing to my Feed.

I found this following questionarie for your church committe to evaluate how welcoming or visitor friendly your church is.

The biggest one for us when we first did this was #3. Church entrance.

The regular attenders used the side entrance, and only first time visitors used the front door, which was never unlocked. Once we realized this, we put signs up to mark the entrance and how to find the sanctuary. Our office was the old manse (the house across the shared driveway), but only signs would tell the visitor this.

Download

Download a copy of this Church Hospitality Assessement

A Hospitality Audit

___ Is your church easy to find? Do you need new signs on major roads near your church?
___ Is your church’s name easy to read from the road?
___ Is it easy to tell which entrance to use for the church office? For the worship center? For Sunday school and evening programs?
___ Does the exterior and overall appearance of your church look well maintained and attractive?
___ Does the landscaping need attention?
___ Are there a few parking spots close to the building which are reserved for the disabled? For guests?
___ Are the sidewalks, the entrance, and the interior spaces of the church easy to navigate for persons in wheelchairs or with other mobility concerns?
___ Are the restrooms all clean? Without rust or mildew? Do you have lotion and tissues available?
___ Are all rooms in the church clearly marked? Are there clear directional signs to classrooms?
___ Are there stacks of old bulletins, old magazines, or out-of-date church brochures which should be discarded?
___ Are there current, attractive handouts or brochures to give information about your church which would be helpful to guests?
___ Are the bulletin boards current? Guests are in fact more likely than regular members to read the bulletin boards!
___ Are there any rooms which need to be cleaned? Painted? Do some rooms look too institutional? Do you have old linoleum or tile that should be replaced with carpet?
___ Do you have adequate lighting in hallways, classrooms, and the worship center?
___ Are the rooms for infants and toddlers both attractive and clean? Do you have older bedding and toys which should be replaced?
___ Are extra copies of curriculum and Bibles in the classrooms? Are teachers prepared and trained to welcome guests?
___ Are the instructions in your bulletin and worship service clear to guests? Remember that you could have guests who have not been to any church before coming to yours.
___ Are large print bulletins available? Is hearing amplification available?
___ Do you have mints available for persons who experience coughing or a dry throat during the service?
___ Do the announcements and/or joys and concerns time contain “insider” references which would make a guest feel excluded? Do people identify themselves before sharing?
___ Do you have a name tag system that is current and that is utilized?
___ Do you have greeters positioned at the entrances to the church? Are greeters and ushers prepared to welcome guests? Do you offer training in hospitality for greeters and ushers?
___ Are all members of the congregation prepared to welcome guests? Have you provided training in hospitality?
___ Are refreshments available at a fellowship time and/or during Sunday school classes?
___ Do you have members who go out of their way during the fellowship time to greet guests and introduce them to others?
___ Are members of your church prepared to extend brunch or dinner invitations to your guests?
___ Do you have a system in place to respond to guests within 48 hours of their attendance by leaving a small gift at their homes? Freshly baked cookies or bread, a devotional booklet, flowers, or a mug with your church’s name are all possibilities.
___ Have you interviewed people who have recently visited your church and asked them for feedback on their experience? Have you talked both to people who have continued to come and to some who only came once?
___ What other areas should you consider?

© 2007 New Life Ministries. Permission is granted to reproduce this audit for use by local leaders in any congregation. For all other uses, please contact New Life Ministries at 1-800-774-3360. Also visit our web site at www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org for other self-assessment tools.

Download

Download a copy of this Church Hospitality Assessement

See more articles in our Hospitality Series.

Free Download

Sign up for our monthly evangelism newsletter with exclusive personal evangelism and church hospitality tips and receive a free download PDF of “Avoiding First Time Visitor Nightmares.

If you would like more information about evaluating your hospitality, and consulting with your leadership to help you improve, feel free to give us a call at 804-335-1445 or Skype at WalkmanPTY. 

I’ve been doing some writing and thinking about helping the church become visitor friendly. A list of related articles is below.

Hospitality is only a part of church based evangelism.

I just read a timely article about this in Net Results Magazine’s September/October 2007 Issue. Bill Easum writes “Back to Basics,” calling on church leaders to get back to the great commission and the great commandment.

In returning to the Great Commandment, he exhorts congregations about the need to return to the basic ministry of loving one another, to become an “incubator of faith where non Christians and new Christians experience a warm, loving, and accepting group of people.”

• Is your church friendly toward the visitor?
• Is your church friendly towards the pastor?
• Or is your church full of strife, division, and run by a control freak?

If your church is not an incubator of faith, perhaps its time to show the controllers and bullies to the door, says Easum.

In returning to the Great Commission, Easum reminds the church to return to the basic ministry of reaching out to the stranger. He offers practical steps for pastors to help keep this in front of the congregation.

His steps:
1. Read the series “My First Six Months as a Pastor”

1. Part one.
2. Part two.
3. Part three.
4. Part four.
5. Part five.
6. Part six.
7. Part seven.

2. Read “Why People Don’t Invite People to Church.” [A recent EvangelismCoach.org post on this is here].
3. Host some “Taste and See Events”
4. Figure out how to spend at least 10% of annual income on ministries focused on unchurched people. Here is a list of ways to connect.

Other Hospitality Posts
Hospitality is a piece of evangelism
What’s your sign? (Do your signs help or hinder?)
Poor Word Choice (One sign that just doesn’t read right).
Hospitality and Evangelism (The story of our welcome to our church).
Welcome a Spanish speaking Visitor
How not to welcome a visitor
No One Said Hello
I can’t silence the pain.
I want to feel Jesus
Six Hints for welcoming Visitors

Update: This article gives an overview at welcoming visitors to church.  For more specifics, see the series on Welcome Church Visitors that has a few more articles specifically on how to welcome visitors.  To stay up to date on our postings about welcoming church visitors Subcribe to EvangelismCoach.org in a RSS reader.

1.  Understand the mind of a guest.

They want to be welcomed. They want to observe our church service and be provided an easy opening if they choose to come again. Most of all, they don’t want to be pressured.

2.  Welcome everyone.

Not only do newcomers need your warm welcome, regulars attenders also need a friendly greeting. Develop a good handshake. Be enthusiastic - about the day, the worship that is about to take place, about Christ.

3.  Anticipate the newcomers.

When people enter the door who you do not recognize, approach them by saying something like, “We’re glad to have you here today. I don’t recall meeting you before.” Avoid “Is this your first time?” You might embarrass yourself or offend a regular attender.

4.  Help newcomers connect.

While you are getting to know them, introduce guests to another regular attender who walks in and suggest they sit together, or feel free to invite first time visitors to sit with you.

5.  Say goodbye with warmth.

After the service, bid farewell to visitors, inviting them to return next week. Ask them if they have any questions. Introduce them to other members and to the pastor. After visitors are gone, feel free to visit with people.

6.  Avoid Church Business.

Avoid using pre or post service activities to conduct church business that could be done over the phone during the week. Focus on visitors.

Update: Want 10 more common practices for welcoming visitors?  See 10 Practices to Welcome Church Visitors Part 1 in the Welcome Church Visitors series.

Let me ask you this?
How do you meet and greet visitors?

What would you add to this list?

The art of welcoming the guests who visit our churches is to practice the art of hospitality.

Hospitality, or the welcoming of guests, is not evangelism as we define and use it here. Rather, hospitality helps to shape the environment for hearing the joyful sharing of the good news of the sovereign love of God.

Banned to the balcony

I’ve experienced churches that think they are warm and friendly, but the visitor may only notice that the church is warm and friendly with themselves.

Once, I had to sit in the balcony to avoid all the stares that the people in the church gave me.

I unknowlingly committed the sin of wearing blue jeans to that particular church.

I never returned.

40 years ago . . . .

Over a good meal one night with an irreligious married couple, we spoke of church life, faith, Christ, and other topics.

They both attended church 3 times a week growing up, but once they married and relocated to another city, they quit going.

They hadn’t been to church regularly for nearly 40 years and faith is no longer important to them.

Their children weren’t church goers and grew up without any real knowledge of the grace of God.  I asked, “Why did you stop going?”

“When we were newly married,” they replied, “we relocated hundreds of miles away from our home town, away from family, friends, and our support network. We visited a few churches of our brand and not one person said hello or took interest in us.”

Forty years ago a family dropped out of church.

A second generation misses out on the proclamation of the grace of God.

Ouch.

Let me ask you this:

How do you react to visitors in your church?  

Do you have an experience to share?  

Possibly Related posts:

No One Said Hello
I can’t silence the pain.
I want to feel Jesus