A church can have greeters, signage, visitor parking, and gifts yet still miss real welcome. This first-time visit story shows how strong systems failed without a living vision. Use it with your team to renew purpose, notice new people, and invite them back. Finish with the Coaching Corner and a concrete next step.
As you plan for this year's celebration of Mother's Day at your church, here are 7 things you can do to prepare your church beforehand.
Your church can make an eternal difference in the life of your Christmas first-time visitors -- if you can help them come back on a regular basis.
Make a great first impression.
The Bible has a lot to say about Christian Hospitality in general. Two of the most popular posts on Evangelismcoach.org are lists of Biblical references to hospitality and welcome. I’ve updated these lists to include Scripture Verses and a print feature for you to print out what might the Bible say about Hospitality Ministry. If …
Church welcome packets are a great marketing tool to put in the hands of your first time visitors, particularly those who stay anonymous. I recently put this question out some of the networks I am a part of: What sorts of things do you put in your visitor welcome packet /folder to give to first …
Visiting a church in a different tradition taught us three big lessons about church hospitality. We felt welcome as people, yet lost in the service. Let me coach your hospitality committee through three practical steps I learned.
Here is a practical discussion starter to use in a church greeter training meeting. The goal of the discussion starter is for your greeter team to think through ways they might respond to a person with such questions.
Many churches have special events with the idea of “invite a friend” or to open up their church to the neighborhood. As a church leader, here is a tip to getting a free or nearly free hospitality assessment.
At the beginning of every year, people make New Year's resolutions. Some want to start growing spiritually and they will check out churches that might help them grow.
Throughout the year, someone will attend your church for the first time.
Are you prepared for their visit?
Are you ready to receive them and welcome them with the love and message of Jesus Christ?
“How can skillful pastors who long for the resurrection power of God to be manifest in their churches learn to patiently guide a congregation through all the necessary stages of change involved in a turn around?” Ron Crandall – Turnaround Churches and Beyond
Our family visited another church for the first time. We showed up unannounced and uninvited. We had seen the sign on the street announcing service times and chose to attend. The experience was very different than the first time visitor story we shared in a prior posting. A Cross Cultural Church Visitor Experience This church …
What kind of impression do visitors get when they come into your church for the first time? Every church thinks it’s friendly. I and many others have experienced the fear factor of walking into an unknown place and knowing immediately that we don’t fit and are not really welcome to remain. During my last book …
Update: Read my review here: Fusion Visitor Assimilation. I think this is the best assimilation book available right now. I’ve not read Sticky Church, but that is next on the list. A new book has been released about turning Visitors into Members, also known as church visitor assimilation. Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members …
A few years ago I attended a seminar dinner on How to Minister to Visitors at the local church and I learned some great ideas that are worth sharing here. Perhaps these can help you minister to the people God brings to your church through your invitation or through His own sovereign means. 1. Miracles …
Imagine 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 …
