In my last post, I wrote about one of the best church experiences I've had in recent memory. (It was unfortunate that the church couldn't live up to their own standard of excellence when we returned several months later). One of the things that made our initial experience such a positive one was that they recognized that communication was key.
One of the biggest barriers in preventing prospective first-time guests from attending a church service is fear of the unknown. People who've grown up being a part of a church, including most pastors, often have no idea that the concept of attending a church for the first time sparks a great deal of fear and apprehension.
To wrap your mind around this, let's assume that you're someone who has gone to an evangelical church for much of your life. You know the routines. You know what to expect. The order of service is almost always the same. Now, imagine that you've accepted an invitation for you and your family to join your neighbors on a Sunday at a Roman Catholic Church. You've seen depictions of their services on TV sitcoms before, but it'll be the first time you've ever attended one of them. What should you expect? Is there something running before or during the service for your kids? Can you trust that those working with your children have been properly trained or screened? What will they "make" you do? Will there be weird chanting in Latin? Will you stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of their liturgy? Will it be a 'Mr. Bean' experience?
How can you, as a pastor or church leader, remove all anxiety or worry from the mind of a prospective guest? How can you ensure that someone's first experience at church will be a great experience? Better communication. While the following list isn't a comprehensive one, hopefully you'll discover a few tips here that will remove a lot of the perceived "spookiness" out of someone's experience as your guest.
1. Guest Services
There are a few times where my family has decided to visit a church "blind", meaning that we didn't know anybody who attended the church and weren't sure what to expect. On one occasion, we entered a church only to have the majority of the people in the lobby ignore us entirely, opting to catch up with their friends instead. It made it even more awkward that I was the guest speaker! Thankfully, we've also had some great experiences where churches had a 'guest services' team in place whose role was to be a friendly, welcoming face, armed with information to alleviate any anxiety or uncertainty a guest might have.
Pastor and blogger, Rich Birch, once wrote that someone in guest services should be like a great party host, introducing guests to others, ensuring that lots of conversations are happening, and making sure that NOBODY is standing in a corner being ignored or forgotten. In terms of what information someone in guest services should have, they should let guests know about free coffee, where the washrooms are located, when the service is scheduled to begin and to assure them that they can sit wherever they would like. If a visiting family has arrived, aside from the above information, the welcome team should describe how awesome their kids ministry is (hopefully without lying), offer to give the family a quick tour of the kid's room, explain when the kids would be dismissed from the service, assure parents that all of those working with children have been screened and trained (again, hopefully without lying) and explain the process for parents to check-in/check-out their children. You get it. The more information, the better-- ESPECIALLY when you're dealing with parents!
2. A Relevant Website
Before anyone sets foot in your church for the first time, rest assured that they've already visited your website. Does that scare you? Ensuring that your website is designed to appeal and offer information to potential first-time guests is paramount. Some tips:
- Make it look pretty! There are a number of free or relatively inexpensive options for you to build a professional looking website. I would recommend a free content creator like http://www.weebly.com or one that's around the same price as what it would cost you to advertise in the newspaper (http://www.squarespace.com). If you're not very tech savvy, recruit someone in the church to head up the design. Note: Designing a website by committee is a bad idea.
- There's no such thing as too much information! Do your best to explain, in detail, what guests should expect. A lot of churches offer a breakdown of a typical "order of service", dress code (hopefully a lack thereof), worship style, and even an explanation of common individual expressions of worship a guest might see during a service (lifting hands, dancing, flag waving).
- Remember, it's an advertisement for your community! Don't design your website with your congregation in mind. Regular church attenders might be interested in following your church on social media or subscribing to your messages on iTunes, but will seldom (if ever) visit your website. Make sure the language isn't flighty or complicated. Think about how you would explain one of your programs to someone who has no church context. What would you want your church to look like 5-10 years from now? If you envision it as being multicultural, make sure a variety of ethnic groups are represented in photographs and advertising! If you envision it to be full of students or young families, especially if you're a member of the 50+ club, recruit somebody in their 20's-30's to help with design and wording.
Even with a great website and a stellar team in guest services, the pastor (or whoever might be making any announcement) should reiterate any pertinent information. For example, when it's time to take up the offering, explain your expectations for guests (hopefully there aren't any). If you're about to lead the congregation in the Lord's Supper, explain the process and significance of it! If your church leans a little on the Pentecostal side and you experience a gift of the Holy Spirit, explain why it happens and how it's biblical! Let's face it, you can't completely sanitize God, but you also don't want to have a guest so freaked out over something they saw or experienced that it leaves a bad taste in their mouth and they decide to never return.
Incidentally, if you're someone who is a regular church attender, some of the explanation a pastor may offer throughout the service might seem a little redundant or come off sounding scripted. Please remember, that information isn't meant for you! While it's something you might hear every week, it's said for the benefit of any potential first-time guests. Cut the pastor some slack!
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