Hard to get: What time are your services?

A church that took over an abandoned post-office turned the exterior into a nice presentable building.

It looked sharp, clean, and with fresh paint and landscaping.

Since the church was in my normal commuting patterns, I would drive by at least 3-4 times a day.

The facilities renovation attracted my attention.

What time are your church services?

During the renovations, a Spanish language sign for the church went up and my interest grew.

But the church sign had no service times, just the church name.

I tried to notice 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.

Tried the telephone

One day, I drove into the church parking lot, to see that no service hours were posted on the door.

The only sign on the church 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 left on the telephone voice announcement.

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 in the automated answer.

This happens two more times over the course of several more weeks.

It took a while

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.

Church Hospitality Lessons to consider:

• Does your exterior signage tell potential visitors what time your services are?
• Can a visitor find your church website?
• Does your church 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?

Clocks Photo credit: Eyesplash via cc
Phone Photo Credit: Khánh Hmoong via cc