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Your Turn: Help a Shy Church Greeter

Shy Church GreeterYou have a shy person who has volunteered to be a church greeter. . . what are some ways to help this person give the best welcome to your church visitors?

Shy people can be introverts, or extroverts in a new situation where they simply hang back to watch and wait.

Some have a surge of fear that keeps them from warmly interacting with people where as others may simple wait for the other person to take the initiative.

For the shy person, going up to a person or a group of people can be stressful.  They might be worried about

  • what to say,
  • how to act and
  • how to make a good impression.

It may be difficult to approach people to start conversations, or feel awkward then they don’t know what to say when they’re chatting to someone.

Here are 3 tips for church greeter coordinators that may help.

1. Prepare them for greeting situations.

People respond better when there is some advance preparation.

When we led mission teams, I reviewed the plan with the team members so they knew what to expect to happen, and what they were expected to do.

So do some rehearsing with your new greeter.  Spend some extra time with them going over what is expected from them.

If you have recruited a family to serve, and the child feels too shy to greet, perhaps you can turn greeting into a small game. Play act with the child ahead of time, practicing being different guests. You could let the child know that it is okay to not say hello, just don’t be rude. If greeting doesn’t work for them, don’t force it. Instead talk with them later, praising the effort to serve as a greeter.

2. Be a good role model

Ask the shy person to serve along side of you. Let them watch what you do. Let them observe.  Use the opportunity to coach and encourage the person.

3. Give them a small list of things they can say:

Give some comments for greeting and then equip them with some ice-breaker type questions:

“So, how did you find our church?”

A few more strategic questions will further the conversation:

  • What do you do in your day job?
  • Which school do you attend?
  • What’s your major?
  • What do you sense God has in mind for you?

Read more conversational small talk for church greeters.

Your Turn:

I’d love to hear from others – what advice would you give to new volunteer who wants to serve as a greeter but feels a little shy?

Share your thoughts below.

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Church Greeters 101 Available Now in Kindle and Paperback

EvangelismCoach.org announces the release of Church Greeters 101 in both paperback and kindle formats.

Author Chris Walker has wanted to help churches:

  • improve their hospitality ministries
  • improve their welcome of guests and members
  • make sure their hospitality ministry is NOT the reason visitors come back
  • see growth because their awesome welcome ministries help visitors decide to return.
Chris Walker's Church Greeters 101 now available in print
Church Greeters 101 in Paperback and Kindle Formats

Church Greeters 101 targets the specific ministry of church greeters.

“Over the years, I’ve seen a lack of current and practical material for the recruiting and training of greeters for this vital hospitality ministry,” says Chris.

“People search for my website every day looking for information on how to identify new greeters, as well as provide some practical training for volunteers who might be a little nervous.”

Why another book on Church Greeters?

Church greeter ministry is a vital part of welcoming visitors to your church.

They help shape that first impression which in turn, may very well shape a visitor’s journey to Christ.

Greeters can make a great impression or a not so good one.

Sadly, greeting ministry gets neglected, overlooked, or relegated to auto-pilot.  Church leaders end up begging for unmotivated volunteers who fill a space.

Church Greeters 101 leads you forward in starting or relaunching the greeter ministry of your church, covering such topics as:

  • how to recruit church greeters,
  • ideas to train church greeters, and
  • ways to cast the vision for ongoing hospitality ministry.

Kevin Cunningham, former Pastor of Welcome Ministries at a Baptist church in New Hampshire wrote (see customer review on Amazon):

I couldn’t possibly recommend a book or author more highly.

For the past 8 years, I’ve lead the Welcome Ministry Teams in my church. I’ve benefited from the author’s resources and training immensely. His work has always been top quality and very helpful to me and those the greeting teams I’ve lead.

Church Greeters 101 is very well written and is filled with practical help to recruit, train and lead the Greeting team(s) to effective and fulfilling service.

Even if you only implemented a couple of the suggestions in the book, it would be worth at least five times the price of the book!!!

Get a copy for yourself. Then send copies to the rest of your team.

Is Church Greeters 101 for you?

Church Greeters 101 is for you if:

  • You’ve been asked to recruit greeters for your church greeting ministry.
  • You’ve been asked to organize your church greeters, but aren’t quite sure where to start.
  • You’ve been asked to train your current greeters but can’t find any adequate training material available.

If you have the responsibility to lead the your church’s greeter ministry, Church Greeters 101 can help you start organizing this ministry to

  • improve your church’s welcome experience,
  • identify and recruit new volunteers,
  • cast a renewed vision for hospitality ministry, and
  • take your welcome experience to new levels.

Your church can’t make an impact if your visitors don’t come back. Church Greeters 101 will help you make sure your greeters are NOT the reason visitors stay away from your church.

Where to get Church Greeters 101

Get your copy of Church Greeters 101 direct from Amazon:

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Greeter Training Webinar #2 DVD Version

No church wants to give a bad experience to their first time visitor or returning guest.

When visitors have a bad experience with your church, often your error is something unintentional.

What does it take to be a great church greeter?

Church Greeters play an important role in your hospitality ministry, but some need some training.

In January 2013, I recorded a new online class for Greeter Training, now available for sale in the store.

Read below to get your copy of this Church Greeter Training DVD.

[Read more…] about Greeter Training Webinar #2 DVD Version

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5 Minutes to Refresh a Vision for Church Hospitality

How to cast a vision for church hospitality in 5 minutesA frequent question I receive is how do pastors regularly cast a vision for hospitality ministries for the church.

Particularly when they are in charge of casting vision for everything.

So I want to share with you another practice for growing your church’s hospitality.

(Read Practice #1: Review your Church Hospitality Ministries)

Practice #2: Regularly remind the Congregation.

In the last two weeks, I’ve heard two different sermons where pastors did this very effectively.

Let me share with you two principles I observed.

1.  Reminder when preparing a big event

Many churches launch big events designed to attract new visitors.

This might be a new sermon series, or a seasonal event like

  • Easter,
  • Christmas, or
  • Back to School.

In vision casting for the big event, one pastor openly talked about the people he was inviting (modeling personal invitations).

He reminded the congregation that he expected them

  • to invite others themselves
  • to welcome and introduce themselves to others
  • to serve people with awesome and “above and beyond” hospitality.

The sermon itself was about how the church is a partner in evangelism.

This specific occasion in pastor’s sermon is inviting people to the new sermon series, where during the series, the gospel would be offered and explained.

To prepare the congregation, pastor gave a few minutes reminder about hospitality as a piece of that partnership.

He even included:

“I’m looking to you all to help welcome my guests, and those that you bring.  We need your help. . . “

He boldly went on to say something like:

“If you have decided you don’t want to serve here and welcome people you don’t know, we don’t really want you here long term – we’re not simply here to consume a sermon, but to love and serve those whom God brings to us that they may find Christ, not a cold church.”

That may not sound loving as you read it – but it fit very well in the context of the sermon to recast a new vision for hospitality ministry.

It wasn’t judgmental, but a tremendous reminder of the value of hospitality.

2.  Sermon illustration

The second preacher is teaching through the 7 letters to the churches in book of Revelation.

It’s part of a series of expository sermons.

While preaching on the church in Sardis, a church that needed to wake up because it got to comfortable with itself, Pastor shared some examples of how feared his church might fall asleep one day.

One of those examples related to welcoming a church visitor.

It came from actual stories that visitors shared with him about their experience with that church.

In less than 2 minutes, he effectively reminded the congregation of it’s role in serving and loving those visitors who come to church.

In a loving rebuke over a particular story, he called the congregation to a higher vision of welcoming the stranger.

Vision in less than 5 minutes

What impressed me about both sermons was that the hospitality related piece was under 5 minutes.

It was a minor part in a very short sermon (each was under 30 minutes).

Yet each was stated clearly enough, simply enough, and connected enough to the main point of the sermon that I was struck as a listener.

I felt invited to a greater cause: welcome the visitor.

I was reminded to meet someone I didn’t know.

I was reminded to think of others above myself before / during / and after the service.

Learn 13 more ways to Cast the Vision for A Great Welcome

Catch the Church Hospitality VisionThese are just a few different ways to reset the vision for a great welcome in your church.

On this MP3, I offer 13 more different ways and places where you can cast that vision in under 5 minutes at various places in the church life.  I want to help you answer how can you develop a passion within the congregation for welcoming first time visitors?

In this 79 minute audio MP3, pastors, hospitality ministry leaders, and volunteers will learn:

  • 4 Reasons Church Visitors Don’t Return and Which Ones You Can Fix
  • Evidence of Poor Church Hospitality Practices
  • Meeting the Expectations of Your Church Visitors
  • The Importance of Initiative in Greeting Church Visitors
  • 14 Ways to Cast a Hospitality Vision
  • How to Pray With Your Church Visitors
  • 7 Next Steps for the Next 30 days.

Format: MP3 audio download (70 MB)

Price: 10.00

Order Your Copy

Visit the EvangelismCoach.org store’s product page for the Catch The Vision MP3 Download and add it to your cart.

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How First Presbyterian Branson Welcomes a Church Visitor

1st Presbyterian Branson MoImagine a church meet and greet where it’s a game:

Who’s come the furthest to get here?

First Presbyterian Church in Branson MO greeted their church visitors this way when I was there on a visit in 2007.

Because its a tourist town, they have plenty of visitors to church who come for the one Sunday while they are on vacation in Branson.

How the Pastor does this

During the time before the service, the pastor is able to observe who is visiting.  The congregation is under 100 in attendance, so newcomers are somewhat visible.

He talks with many of them, if not all, prior to the service.

During the welcome time, he calls out a list of places where the visitors are from.  Kansas, South Dakota, Indiana, for example.

They are asked to raise their hands, and the church welcomes them with a round of applause.

For the church, this celebration of the presence of tourists is a continual reminder to greet the visitor, even if they are there just one Sunday.

It’s a pleasant atmosphere and because of the prior conversations with the pastor, there doesn’t appear to be any embarrassment in being asked to raise a hand.

The pastor does an excellent job of meeting and greeting prior to the service which makes this part of the service enjoyable.

I wouldn’t recommend this

This form of meet and greet works in Branson because it is a tourist town.   The pastor is able to work the crowd to make it a pleasant experience for everyone involved.

In most places, singling out visitors would create awkward moments in the visiting process.  Instead, find ways to help your visitor find you at the visitor welcome center or by turning in a connection card.

If you do the passing of the peace in some way, consider these experiences (video).

Do you lead your greeter ministry?

I’ve written a book for leaders of church greeter ministry.  Click on these links to read more (at Amazon).

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