Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• By
• Tom Cheyney

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• You have worked hard to draw new people to your
  church by visiting and sharing Christ. They
  finally come to see this exciting place you have
  described.
• How do you welcome them to your special place?
  How do you strike a balance between allowing them
  space to experience worship and letting them know
  they are important? What is the most effective
  way to welcome guests to your worship service?

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Your church can follow three steps to extend a
  warm greeting to those who come your way
  Identify the options, determine the goals, and
  consider church and community factors.
• Identify the Options
• A variety of methods to welcome guests exist.
  Commonly used methods and brief comments about
  the advantages and disadvantages of each are
  listed below.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Ask guests to identify themselves. This is
  probably the most widely used method in the
  Southern Baptist Convention today. Here are three
  variations to this common approach

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Call the guests by name. The pastor or a
  significant lay leader meets guests prior to the
  service, learns their names, and recognizes them
  during the worship service. This approach often
  is taken in rural and smaller churches because
  everyone is aware the guests are present. This
  method is personal but does not require any
  action on the part of the guests.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Ask the guests to raise their hands to receive
  visitors cars and information about the church.
  We often ask people to wear visitors tags to
  identify them so that we can greet them after the
  service. This method identifies visitors and puts
  information about the church directly into their
  hands.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Ask guests to stand. This is a variation of the
  method above. It is especially useful in large
  churches, where poor visibility might cause
  ushers to miss seeing raised hands.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Several disadvantages are inherent in this
  method. First, asking guests to identify
  themselves can make them feel uncomfortable and
  out of place. Asking them to be conspicuous
  identifies them as different and immediately
  conveys the idea that they dont belong. They
  are singled out in the crowd, a feeling many
  folks do not enjoy.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Second, many visitors will not fill out cards,
  particularly if they feel they are the only ones
  engaged in that activity while everyone else is
  singing, praying, or listening. Finally, this
  method sends a subliminal message to your guests
  When they visit your church, they are asked to do
  something to help you achieve your goals. It
  implies guests are expected to meet the needs of
  the church, not that the church is there to meet
  the needs of the guests.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• The method was effective during the 1950s, when
  people were more comfortable entering strange
  settings and making themselves known. Most
  churches, however, probably need to consider
  other options more suitable for todays society.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Record everyones attendance - This idea is
  catching on, especially in growing and urban
  churches. Everyone is doing the same task at the
  same time, so no one feels singled out or asked
  to do something no one else is doing. If this
  method is best for your church, remember that it
  takes continuous education of the congregation.
  You must explain the mechanics and purpose every
  Sunday so that all understand. This approach has
  three variations.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Pew registers -- Pads of paper are located at the
  end of each pew and are passed down the pews
  during a specified time. Members fill out their
  names, and guests fill out their names and
  addresses. It is important that adequate time is
  allotted to do this and that members do not pass
  the register early to get it over with. Guests
  may not understand what they are supposed to do
  with the pads.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Attendance cards -- Cards with spaces to fill in
  names, addresses, and phone numbers are inserted
  in the bulletins or pew racks (the bulletins are
  most effective). The pastor (or appropriate
  worship leader) at a specified time explains the
  purpose of the cards and leads the church to fill
  out the information requested. Everyone fills out
  the cards and turns them in during the offering
  or leaves them in the pews. The cards have
  several advantages including prayer-request
  spaces on the backs of cards, achieving a higher
  guest response, preserving anonymity while
  getting desired information, and avoiding
  singling out guests.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Bulletins with tear-off attendance slips. - The
  slips are a variation of the guest cards
  described above, with similar advantages. They
  are especially useful for special events (such as
  Christmas and Easter musicals), when large
  numbers of guests may be expected.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• One disadvantage of this method is that it is not
  as personal. If a person wants to feel special,
  he or she may end up feeling part of the crowd.
  It requires some type of follow-up visitation
  after church services since it does not allow
  placement of information about the church into a
  guests hands.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Extra effort will be required to be friendly to
  all who come to church because no one will wear a
  visitor tag or identify himself or herself as a
  guest. The congregation may lose awareness of
  guests in its midst.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Have a personal encounter with all guests This
  method gives the church an opportunity for a
  personal, caring touch but requires a dedicated
  group of servants. The danger of this approach is
  that someone will fall through the cracks. Every
  door to the worship center must be staffed with
  volunteers who make it their minister to be
  hospitable to all who come. Enough angels must
  be available for every guest. Three ways to have
  a personal encounter with every guest are listed
  below

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Name tags for all -- Every person who attends
  (members and guests) wears a tag. The guest
  receives one when he or she enters the vestibule.
  This is more effective if the church has the
  technology to make the name tag permanent while
  the guest fills out an information card.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• That way, guests have something tangible that
  shows they belong
• and are included. This approach also allows
  guests to be identified but not singled out
  because everyone is wearing a name tag. The name
  tag facilitates warmth by allowing everyone to be
  called by name. It also creates a friendly feel
  in the church and makes everyone feel important
  but no singled out.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Have greeters -- While often used, this method
  has potential for great effectiveness. Train
  greeters to ask for names and to engage in light
  conversation to make guests feel welcome. It is
  important not to assume these actions came
  naturally to greeters.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Remind greeters of the churchs objectives in
  welcoming guests. Greeters can give guests
  information cards and help them fill them out.
  This approach helps guests know they already have
  friends in the church- people who personally are
  interested in them. It is more effective if
  greeters make follow-up visits. Greeting requires
  outgoing, dedicated people.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Adopt a guest Friendly folks greet guests and
  help them fill out cards but go one step further.
  They sit with guests during the worship service
  introduce them to others in church and, in some
  cases, invite them to meet with the pastor, stay
  for a meal, or go out for a meal afterward. This
  is the most personal approach and gives validity
  to the concept of friendly church. It
  establishes relationships vital to sharing the
  gospel.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• The disadvantages to this method are that it may
  make guests who desire anonymity uncomfortable.
  Our efforts to be friendly may make people ill at
  ease and reluctant to come back.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Training is required for greeters to be
  effective. Name tags need organization and an
  outlay for equipment and materials. A danger in
  this approach is that guests may slip by. They
  must be identified before they walk into the
  worship center! Finally, it requires a dedicated
  group of volunteers who have a passion for this
  ministry.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Determine the Goals
• Having considered the available methods, the next
  step is to be clear about our intentions behind
  recognizing guests. Is the goal to be friendly,
  to share the gospel, to identify prospects, or to
  uphold the self-image that ours is a friendly
  church? In short, whose needs are we attempting
  to meet--ours or our guests?

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Determine the Goals
• Enduring goals for all churches are listed below.
  You will find that defining goals requires
  sensitivity to the needs and attitudes of guests.
• Make your guests feel welcomed, not embarrassed.
• Make guests feel included, not singled out.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Determine the Goals
• Make guests feel comfortable, not out of place.
• Make follow-up visits to guests to see if they
  are in need of the good news or if they are
  prospects.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Determine the Goals
• Do not deceive them! Do not claim to be friendly
  if your church is not do not tell them they will
  be anonymous if they will be identified. Do not
  tell them they are welcome if the nonverbal
  language tells the stay away you do not belong
  to this club.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Church and Community Factors to Consider
• What is right for someone else may not be right
  for you. Analyze your particular need and make
  choices about welcoming guests based on your
  findings.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Church and Community Factors to Consider
• What is your community like? Most like anonymity
  in strange settings, but rural communities may
  require a personal touch. People may move to the
  country to escape the anonymity of urban life.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Church and Community Factors to Consider
• What is your church like? Some people choose
  small churches because they like to be fussed
  over. They want to be known by name. Other people
  want a chance to worship without being known,
  particularly if they fear they might not be
  accepted. Some methods are more appropriate for
  small churches, some for midsize churches, and
  some for large churches.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Church and Community Factors to Consider
• Does your present method work? Do you know your
  guest? Do you get the information and responses
  you desire? If it works, do not change it! If it
  does not work, consider other options.
• Be consistent! Find one method, and stick to it.
  Changing approaches often confuses members and
  makes it more difficult for them to understand
  the purpose behind welcoming your guests.

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Innovative Ways of Welcoming Guests

• Remember, we all want ours to be the church of
  the open door. It is important, though, to open
  the door in such a way that people want to stay
  and not go back out.

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Thank you!