EvangelismCoach

Welcome Church Visitors

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2 Church Website Pages to Help First Time Visitors

I consulted with the Church Hospitality Team leader of a large urban church that is developing a parking lot ministry greeter team.

Over the decades, this church has acquired neighboring parcels of land in the city to expand their campus.  The end result being that there is no contiguous land parcel for one parking lot.

Instead, there are small disconnected parking lots scattered around the campus of multiple buildings.

The question we explored is how to help first time church visitors navigate the complexity of multiple parking lots when certain lots are full.

Together, we discovered two useful ideas for the Church Website: [Read more…] about 2 Church Website Pages to Help First Time Visitors

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Useful Small Talk at the Church Welcome Center

In our family’s current journey of looking for a church, we empathize anew with Christian families that are new movers and have to find a new church on their own.

I am re-discovering is the value of small talk when engaging your first time visitor.  (Read these 20 Crazy Church Greeter Comments).

Our church visit this past Sunday drew my attention to the value of small talk. [Read more…] about Useful Small Talk at the Church Welcome Center

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3 Lessons for Hospitality Committees from a church visit

My family and I attended a church service in a Christian faith tradition completely different than what we are used to.  We learned 3 important lessons for hospitality committees at churches

I felt so out of place as we attended and tried to participate in their church service at their personal invitation.

The order of service, communal prayers, and liturgical responses were completely different from anything I had experienced before.
[Read more…] about 3 Lessons for Hospitality Committees from a church visit

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Is your hospitality ministry disorganized?

Here is one of my favorite church hospitality questions:

Our hospitality ministry is SOOOOO lacking.

What can we do to fix it?

Based on some descriptions that readers like you tell me, I frequently run into these adjectives.

  • Weak,
  • Struggling,
  • Lack of Passion.
  • Not organized well.
  • Whatever happens, happens.
  • People and ministry fall through the cracks.
  • Visitors don’t return after the first or second visit.

Those would be some adjectives describing a disorganized hospitality ministry. [Read more…] about Is your hospitality ministry disorganized?

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Need More Hospitality Ministry Volunteers?

How do I find hospitality ministry volunteers for my church?

Here is a common email I receive (composed from various ones):

I’m having a hard time finding volunteers who believe in the ministry of hospitality.  They think everyone should be doing this automatically.

Our church doesn’t have enough people who are interested in being greeters. We can’t get any volunteers. .

We’ve not ever organized our hospitality ministry before, but want to so do now so that our church will grow.

How do I find volunteers for the hospitality ministry?

Any ideas? We are praying for God to touch people’s heart with the desire to serve.

If you are the leader of your church’s hospitality committee, this is a question on your mind.

You have come to the realization that your church needs to do a better job of greeting and welcoming first time visitors.

But you have a hard time getting volunteers and you run into these three attitudes:

Attitude #1: Greeting: It’s everyone’s job.

People neglect the intentional nature of the hospitality ministry because they think it’s everyone’s responsibility.

You encounter resistance because they believe it’s the role of everyone.

I’ve seen it in smaller churches that have never had a welcome ministry.

I’ve seen it in mid-size churches that used to have a welcome ministry, but it got neglected over time.

Attitude #2: It’s not my gift. . .

I’ve seen people hide behind this one too.

I’ve met people who seem to have few social skills and would rather do something else than say hello to strangers.

But, I’ve also met people who find visitors to be a nuisance:

  • Those visitors sit in my pew and make me sit somewhere else.
  • They dress funny.
  • They might not be here legally.
  • That family might be a bad influence on my kids.

So they give a cold shoulder instead of a warm welcome, and hide behind “It’s not my gift.”

Attitude #3:  I don’t need training

You may already have people doing some kind of welcome ministry.

But you know it’s a mediocre experience for the visitor.

You may have volunteers who have settled into their routine of handing out bulletins, but have no grace, charm, or love for the visitor – it’s their church job vs. a ministry.

They are resistant to improving the hospitality ministry because they believe “I know how to welcome people, I’ve been doing it here for 10 years.”

Where then do I start?

Work at Changing their Minds

question1Part of your work as the hospitality ministry leader will be to change these attitudes.

Don’t let these attitudes deter you from improving your welcome process.

As you personally recruit your volunteers, you’ll have the chance to express how important this ministry is to the growth of your church.

Here are three ways to work at changing minds.

1.  Regularly Cast the Vision for Hospitality Ministry.

There are many ways to cast that vision, but this is a process of time.

Find and share stories of the impact of hospitality ministry.

You should be a hunter of stories of people who experienced a great welcome in your church.

Celebrate it from the front, and celebrate them at moments like baptisms and membership Sundays.

2. Have a Vision Refresher Meeting.

Gather your volunteers for a vision refresher meeting.

Take some time to both recast the vision, and provide some training for your volunteers.

These meetings can also serve as an entry point for recruiting new volunteers to your hospitality ministry that you have been identifying.

3.  Personally Recruit 

If you want to recruit volunteers for this ministry of hospitality, make the effort to

  • pray
  • identify
  • share the vision
  • Ask for the volunteer to serve.

Personal recruitment, particularly in smaller church is the most effective way to start getting new volunteers.

They need to see and hear your passion for this welcoming ministry.

Let me ask you this

What are some of the ways that you have gone about finding volunteers?

What are some of the ways you have overcome some of these attitudes?

Training Tools to help you

I recorded this webinar to help you.  You can stream it or download it after purchase.  Available in the Store.  Click on the image to get there.

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What is the next step?

Our family has experienced a temporary life transition that had us move to another state in the US for a period of four months, away from our church, away from our social networks, and away from our friends.

Four months not enough time

  • to visit many churches
  • to look for a church home.
  • to build long lasting relationships.
  • to really even get to be known by church members.

Our move is only temporary, so we made a decision to pick a church where some friends attend and just stay there. [Read more…] about What is the next step?

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