5 Guaranteed Ways to Make Sure Visitors Never Come Back
By Luke Geraty
One of my favorite verses in the entire Bible
powerfully articulates the profound beauty of the gospel and how that
message should impact the way we relationally live our lives with those
around us. Paul writes:
“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7 ESV)
Welcome others because Christ has welcomed you. Simple. To the point.
And profoundly important for every church in every culture in every
age. Regardless of whether you are in a mega-church, a small church, a
missional community or any other ecclesiological expression … welcoming
people is crucial if you want to grow.
Now some churches are
really good at creating a welcoming
culture. A welcoming church culture says, “We are so glad you are here,”
and, “We want you to feel comfortable and valued.” It’s a culture that
highly values making new people, those you call “guests” or “visitors,”
feel like they are
important and
valued in the local church.
But some churches are very, very,
very bad at creating an
atmosphere where visitors feel “welcomed.” Instead of making you feel
welcomed, you feel unwelcomed and, in some cases, an inconvenience!
The context in which I address here is the common local church that
meets during the week in a specific location. If you are involved in a
different expression of church, you’ll need to figure out how to apply.
But here are my top five things you should do if you want to be
unwelcoming.
(1) Make sure no one smiles.
I recently read a study that proved smiling is actually good for your
health. Did you know that smiles release antidepressants and are proven
to be good for your health? You are
healthier if you smile more. But not only are your smiles good for
you, they are good for those around you! Studies prove that
smiles are contagious!
But the fact of the matter is that many people visiting your church
for the first time may be pretty nervous and somewhat scared. Maybe they
haven’t been in church for a long time. Maybe the last time they were
in church was a terrible experience where they were treated poorly
and/or felt judged. The greeters who are opening the door and
not sharing
a smile do nothing to calm some of those fears and anxiety. And the
people from the “stage,” be they the music leaders, the preacher the or
person giving the weekly announcements, could really help make people
feel more welcome and comfortable if they don’t look like it’s such a
pain to do what they are doing.
If you want to create a “culture of welcome,” encourage people to
learn the art of smiling because it is a very easy, inexpensive (unless
you had plastic surgery or botox) and powerful way to say, “Hey, I’m
really glad you are here!”
(2) Ignore new people.
It might sound crazy to you, but I’ve actually been to a number of
churches that literally did not say a single thing to acknowledge any of
the first time guests. “Maybe they knew there weren’t any new people,”
you might say. Ah ha! If only I weren’t a new person that day! Plus, on a
couple of these occasions, I myself met new people while visiting that
church!
Listen,
you need to acknowledge new people. If you don’t, it feels like we don’t matter. And that we’re not welcome. And that we aren’t valued in any way, shape or form.
(3) Make new people stand up and do a dance.
Speaking of acknowledging new people, there’s a huge difference
between saying, “Hey, if this is your first time with us, we are
delighted you’ve joined us,” and having new people stand up so that
everyone in the church knows who they are. It’s one thing to let
visitors know you are grateful they joined you and another thing
altogether to have them come forward so that you can pray for them.
One of my friends once told me that when he visited a church, the
pastor had all of the visitors stand up and then come forward so that he
could “interview” them. He asked them why they came, where they were
from, what they were looking for from the church, whether they were
“saved” or not, etc. Listen,
you might as well have those visitors stand up and come forward and perform an interpretative dance.
The bottom line is that there’s a fine line between welcoming people and making people feel really uncomfortable.
(4) Provide no signage and, under no circumstances, provide coffee.
For the first nine years that I served
Trinity Christian Fellowship
as a pastor, we didn’t have any signs in our building. If you wanted to
know where the restrooms, kitchen or children’s classrooms were, you
had to either already know where they were or ask someone.
But about a year ago, we finally followed through on something we’d
discussed many times. We ordered a bunch of nice signs and placed them
throughout our building. Each sign would help visitors know where the
sanctuary was located, the restrooms, the “cry room” (“lactate room”
seemed weird), the kitchen, and all of the children’s classrooms. And
I’ve had literally
dozens of people tell me they really appreciate those signs because they know where different rooms are.
Again, if someone is visiting your church’s service for the first
time, they don’t know where to go. They don’t know the insider language
and location for your different ministries and where they meet. So if
you want to keep them from feeling welcomed, avoid doing little things
like this.
Oh, and one of the worst things you can do is not have coffee,
especially if your worship gathering is in the morning. This is probably
just a personal preference for me, but if you don’t have coffee, my
body literally can’t go to your church.
OK, that’s a little extreme. But a smile, verbal acknowledgement, clear signage and a cup of coffee go a long way.
(5) Keep things as unfriendly as you can.
I’ve actually visited a fair amount of churches that sure seem
unfriendly. In addition to no one saying, “Hey, we’re glad you came
today,” or having the impression that my visit was valued in any way,
shape or form, there have been churches that give me the vibe that they
actually don’t
want new visitors.
One time I visited a church and out of the 35 people in the
auditorium, only one person spoke to my wife and I … and that was on our
way out at the end of the service!
If you are a leader in the church, you need to do everything you can
to set an example by being friendly to new people. And you should
encourage the church through conversations, small groups and preaching
to be more friendly. Sometimes congregations just need to be reminded
about the initial feelings people have when they first visit a church.
Well … those are a few thoughts I have.
What would you add?
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (ANS -- March 23, 2016)
– In a surprise move by University officials, a student-led group is
being allowed to “meet the dawn” on the historic grounds of the
University of Virginia this Easter. A joint University and Community
Easter sunrise service will be held at the University Amphitheater 7-8
a.m. on resurrection Sunday, March 27.
Donuts
and coffee will be served for early arrivals on Easter morning and in
case of rain, the service will be moved to the UVA Chapel.
About
the writer: Bill Bray, 68, is an author and Christian journalist who
specializes in missions and student ministries. He contributes
frequently to ASSIST News Service and welcomes interaction with our
readers. He can be contacted at bray.william@gmail.com .
MOUNT HERMON
Welcome
to the backstory of how these two met and eventually teamed up. Seems
they didn't like each other much at first. Clark Kent calls Batman a
"bat vigilante" who "thinks he’s above the law." Bruce Wayne labels the
Daily Planet newspaper "hypocritical" for running Superman "puff pieces" when he's really a dangerous alien who could destroy humanity.
Lois Lane
The
list of parallels is long. This film is filled with them, often stated
by philosopher/theologian Lex Luthor. I won’t spoil them for you.
They’re well worth watching for.
