3 Quick Fixes to Your Church Greeter Ministry

I’ve recently been coaching some churches that have purchased a copy of Church Greeters 101.

In each case, I’ve talked with a relatively new volunteer in charge of the Church Greeters Ministry.

Often this volunteer is looking for new ideas to improve the existing greeter ministry in their church.  They see that their greeters are

• showing up late
• not fulfilling their roles
• apathetic in their hello.

3 Quick Fixes to Your Greeter Ministry

Here are a 3 quick start ideas:

1.  Cast the Vision for Church Greeters.

When church greeters see their task as only “Saying hello to people walking in the door on a Sunday morning,” it’s pretty easy to consider the role as unimportant.

They don’t see the big picture their role plays in the over all welcome experience.

If you are the greeter ministry leader, regularly help your greeters see the big picture of church hospitality and how it helps people grow in journey with Christ.

Action step: What can you do in the next 7 days to cast a vision?

2.  Appreciate your Church Greeters.

We have all experienced the impact of appreciation and encouragement.  A regular thank you or action of appreciation often re-motivates volunteers and honors them for their work.

• Send a thank-you note.
• Smile.
• Send a Christmas greeting card or similar at another holiday.
• Spontaneously say “thank-you” during a chance or planned meeting or gathering.
• Ask a greeter for their input about a program or evaluation.
• Utilize a suggestion box. Carefully consider their suggestions!

I try to send hand written thank you notes to people who support this ministry and have been told several times how appreciated those notes are.

Action Step: Who do you need to say thank you to?  Go do it within the next 7 days.

3.  Email Quick Tips to your Church Greeters

Some of your greeter volunteers don’t necessarily know what is expected of them and may feel nervous about serving.

They may also feel embarrassed about asking you what to do, so help minimize that potential nervousness by emailing some quick tips to your greeters when reminding them of their upcoming service.

Some churches are choosing to create a series of 12 emails they send out to all their greeter volunteers, one per month with some quick tips.

Here is one example:

• Read: 10 Tips for Church Greeters.
• Send this video: Video: Ten Useful Tips for Church Greeters
• Show bad examples: 20 Crazy Church Greeter Comments

Action step: Use the share feature below on the 10 Tips for Church Greeters article and share it with your church greeter team, facebook, and linked in.