Tag: Guests

Top 10 Ways Churches Drive Away First-time Guests

If you attend a church regularly, you’ve probably noticed the phenomenon. A guest shows up for a worship service, but he or she never returns. It is, unfortunately, a common issue in many churches.

I did a Twitter poll to ask these first-time guests why they chose not to return to a particular church. While some of the responses were anticipated, I admit being a bit surprised with some of them.

Though my poll is not scientific, it is nevertheless fascinating. Here are the top 10 responses in order of frequency.

  1. Having a stand up and greet one another time in the worship service. 

    This response was my greatest surprise for two reasons. First, I was surprised how much guests are really uncomfortable during this time. Second, I was really surprised that it was the most frequent response.

  2. Unfriendly church members. 

    This response was anticipated. But the surprise was the number of respondents who included non-genuine friendliness in their answers. In other words, the guests perceived some of the church members were faking it.

  3. Unsafe and unclean children’s area. 

    This response generated the greatest emotional reactions. If your church does not give a high priority to children, don’t expect young families to attend.

  4. No place to get information. 

    If your church does not have a clear and obvious place to get information, you probably have lowered the chances of a return visit by half. There should also be someone to greet and assist guests at that information center as well.

  5. Bad church website. 

    Most of the church guests went to the church website before they attended a worship service. Even if they attended the service after visiting a bad website, they attended with a prejudicial perspective. The two indispensable items guests want on a website are address and times of service. It’s just that basic.

  6. Poor signage. 

    If you have been attending a church for a few weeks, you forget all about the signage. You don’t need it any more. But guests do. And they are frustrated when it’s not there.

  7. Insider church language. 

    Most of the respondents were not referring to theological language as much as language that only the members know. My favorite example was: “The WMU will meet in the CLC in the room where the GAs usually meet.”

  8. Boring or bad service. 

    My surprise was not the presence of this item. The surprise was that it was not ranked higher.

  9. Members telling guests that they’re in their seat. 

    Yes, this obviously still takes place in some churches.

  10. Dirty facilities. 

    Some of the comments: “Didn’t look like it had been cleaned in a week.” “No trash cans anywhere.” Restrooms were worse than a bad truck stop.” “Pews had more stains than a Tide commercial.”

There you have it. The top 10 reasons first-time guests said they did not return to a church. I can’t wait to hear from you readers. You always have such good additions and insights.  

Article written for Christian Leaders Thom Rainer. Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources (LifeWay.com). http://www.thomrainer.com

You Can Ask, We Can Help

My youngest daughter just moved out of our house and into an apartment. Usually when kids move out their parents are close by to help them with setting things up and everything that comes with it, but not us, we moved 8 hours away! My daughter decided she needed blackout curtains for her room because she can only sleep if the room is pitch black. She called us for advice on how to install curtain rods and as we were telling her she said; “I think I’ll just go to Home Depot and ask somebody there. I’ll just say “hey, can you put curtain rods on a wall?” and when they say yes I’ll tell them to follow me to my apartment.” Where did we go wrong!?!!

Her train of thought was that she would go to the place that should have all the answers and they would help her. How many people do you think you interact with at church that have that same train of thought? You helped them find a parking spot so you must know how to help them get connected into a small group, or what day and time the student ministry meets, right? I am a big fan of cross training all of the first impression team members, but there’s no way anyone can have all the answers!! So what can you do?

We have thought about this and here are a couple of steps we take;

1. Help Center – we changed our “info desk” to “help center” because we want people to know where they can go for help, not just information. We push all information to our website and have iPads at the help center for the team members to not only help people with their request, but to also show them where they can find the answers in the future! We also have 4×5 pieces of paper with “Name,” “Phone,” “Email,” “I would like information on,” and then blank lines for those requests the team members are not able to answer and the staff tackles those on Monday. The iPads also allow guests to sign up for special events. They can pull up the registration form and fill it out right there at the help center.

2. Communication – we do our best to inform all team members of the basic information that can help a guest when they ask questions. We send a weekly email with information about special events happening like the next date for baptism, or membership, or kids camp, student camp, etc. Our coaches do an excellent job communicating the non-weekly activities during their preservice huddles as well as reminding all team members that if they aren’t sure how to answer a guests request, they can walk them to the help center!

Here’s what our Help Center Note looks like!

I hope our first impressions team has an incredible reputation for helping people like Home Depot does in my daughters mind!

PS – she didn’t bring a stranger into her house, she found a friend to help her hang her curtains! Whew!!

Written by Stacey Windover. Stacey is the Guest Experience Consultant for Froot Group, a worship staffing and consulting company.

So…you’re looking to build a greeting team? Here’s how to get started!

Your greeting team is one of the most influential parts of church growth. These are the first people that your guests will get to interact with. Some guests will even base their overall experience off the first impression of your church.

Growing up in the church, the greeting team or guest experience team was never something that our church did. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to do it, we just didn’t know where to start or how to get people on board with the idea. Here are a couple things to think about when starting your greeting team!

What will you call this ministry?

There are many of great names out there like greeting team, guest experience, first impressions, and hospitality team. There is no right or wrong answer, choose one and let your church know!

Who will lead this ministry?

Is this a paid position, or is this a volunteer spot? Sometimes the best answer as to who should lead this ministry is the one person who is asking for it!

How will you get people to join, and who should join?

Asking people to join is one of the easiest and most effective ways when building a team. A simple email, sign-up sheet, or face to face invite are just a few ways you can gather a team. It’s always a good idea to find people that are outgoing. Greeting complete strangers is very intimidating, especially for the introvert.

Do you have team expectations?

Most people enjoy getting involved, but sometimes we forget to explain to them what they will be doing and what is expected of them. We can communicate this through team training.  Finding a night that works best for all team members is ideal. There you can share the vision and ideas they will need when greeting someone for the first time!

What are a few items needed to get started?

Find the funds to purchase nametags for all your greeters. Nametags are a great way to personalize your greeters and the team.

Here are a few simple tips for your greeting team:

  • Before church, say things like, “Hi, Good Morning, Welcome to Church!”
  • And after church saying things like, “Hope you have a fantastic day! See you next week! Thanks for coming!”

Church should be the most fun, joy-filled place on earth! Don’t forget to smile.

Written by Derek Harsch

Derek is the Marketing Director at Froot Group, a worship staffing company.