Ministry in Your Congregation

Outside your church

• Have clear, visible signs showing your church's location and entrances to the car park. Exit and traffic flow signs are also important if needed.
• Reserving dedicated parking spots for guests will show that you have considered them.
• For special or larger services, or if your car park is full, organise car park attendants to direct people to where they can find a park.
• Entrances to the building should also be clear and/or have good signage.
• Do a facility audit. Does your church look as inviting as possible outside and inside?

Inside the church building

• Have greeters to welcome your guests. There should be enough greeters to be welcoming but not overwhelming.
• It is best if greeters introduce themselves by name (regardless of whether they are wearing a name tag) and let guests know they will be around if guests have questions or need help. Learn the names of your guests, too, and use them.
• Provide name tags for the whole congregation and develop the habit of wearing them.
• Ensure there are clear, visible signs showing where the toilets are, as these are often a priority for guests who have just arrived.
• Have posters, information brochures or leaflets about the ministries of your church and any special events coming up that are visible and easy for guests to find.
• Ushers should ensure they give guests everything they will need for the service and explain the different things if there are several items.
• It is a good idea to usher guests to seats that suit their needs (but not right up the front!) and introduce them to people seated near them if the service hasn’t started.

Welcoming children

• If your guests have children with them, greet the children also, at their level.
• Ensure they know what you offer children.
• If there is a creche or cry room, where is it and who is it for?
• If you have a Sunday school or Sunday kids' program, where is it, who is it for, and how do you check in? You could introduce your guests to a member family with children and ask them to guide the guests through the process.
• You could create some children’s activity packs if you don’t have an active children’s ministry program. You could include colour-in or activity sheets, colouring pencils or textas, stickers, or Lutheran Tract Mission children’s tracts. (See resources for ideas and resources for children.)
• Guest families will appreciate that you offer children’s programs and activities; however, they also need to be free to decide whether their children remain with them during worship. If they do stay, it is a great opportunity to love their kids as kids. Let children be children, and don’t expect them to be grown-ups.

Welcoming doesn’t end when the service begins. Navigating your way through an unfamiliar worship experience can be daunting. Even small things like when to stand or sit, where to find the worship order if it’s not on the screen, and what to do about the offering can be challenging or embarrassing for guests.

• Don’t let new people sit alone in a strange setting. If you see guests sitting alone, go and sit with them. Help them find their way through the experience.
• The pastor or worship leader should welcome any guests who are present at the beginning of the service. Make sure they don’t forget to introduce themselves.
• You could have a short ‘meet and greet’ time in your church service, where people greet and shake hands with those around them. If you do, make a special effort to welcome guests seated near you.
• Avoid, where possible, or explain ‘churchy’ language and ‘insider’ jargon or acronyms.
• Don’t make the offering an obligation. When it’s time for the offering, let your guests know they’re welcome to give if they want to, but it’s not expected or required.
• Ensure you consider your guests when you explain what is happening and how you distribute communion.
• Let your guests know if you have ‘guest cards’ they can fill in or prayer request slips. Briefly explain why you have them and what to do with them.
• Thank your guests for coming at the end of the service. Invite them to stay for coffee and a chat after the service. Make sure they know where to go. If you are seated near a guest, invite them to accompany you.

It is important to continue being a welcoming church after the service finishes. Churches can do well at greeting guests before church but then leave them standing alone and ignored while members catch up with their friends and family after church. In many churches, welcome teams finish their duties at the end of the first or second song in the service.

The first 10 minutes following the conclusion of the service are vital in making newcomers feel welcome. We all have our ‘unwelcome’ stories and experiences of being in a strange place and knowing nobody, yet we can still be slow to welcome others in the same situation.

Welcoming is not complex, but it involves a change of mindset. Seeing services as an opportunity to enjoy our church family but also welcome newcomers into it shifts our gaze from ourselves and our self-consciousness to an ‘other-centredness’.

Below are some ways churches – or, more specifically, church members – can make guests feel welcome long after the service is over.

• Treat first-time visitors as guests of God, not strangers.
• Relax and stop trying so hard. Be yourself! A warm, genuine, natural, accepting welcome is all that is needed.
• Look people in the eye, smile and offer your hand. Tell them you’re glad they are here.
• Take the initiative; don’t wait for guests to initiate a conversation with you.
• Offer them coffee or tea and a biscuit (if you have them) instead of making them line up like everyone else.
• Learn people’s names and remember them.
• Get to know your guests. Show an interest in them. Ask questions and learn about them. Hopefully, your questions will lead to a conversation where real relating happens.
• Listen and be attentive. Listening is a very effective way to show love. Don’t look around or over their shoulder as if you’re trying to find someone better to talk to.
• Introduce them to others. If they’re young adults, introduce them to other young adults. If they’re a family, introduce them to another family. This is critical to good welcoming. It multiplies and broadens the connections to the community for new people. When a newcomer’s contact point with a church is just one person, like a friend, family member or the pastor, they speak of going to that person’s church. When they develop multiple contact points in a church community, they begin to speak of it as their church.
• Be helpful if you can. People often go to church to seek something. It could be friendship, a spiritual home, connections, networks or practical help.
• Invite guests to fill out a ‘guest card’ or form with their details if you have one, and write down any needs or prayer requests they might have.
• If they give you a phone number, ensure you or someone from your church calls them during the week after their visit. It doesn’t have to be a long conversation, but it lets guests know they are not forgotten and that they matter.
• Invite them over for a meal or a coffee. If the conversation is flowing, and you feel comfortable about it, invite them to go out for a coffee after church or to share a meal with you and your family. It doesn’t have to be cordon bleu cooking – you can pick up chicken and chips on the way if you have nothing at home to offer. Your house doesn’t have to be immaculate. They will probably feel more at home if it isn’t.
• Invite guests to join you at any appropriate church events that are coming up. Give them information about anything your church offers that is relevant to them, such as playgroup, shed men, women’s group, or craft group.
• Try to say goodbye before they leave and that you hope to see them next week. Some churches have their greeters farewell people after the service.
• Pray for them throughout your week.
• Follow guests up and reconnect with them soon afterwards. Consider the 36-hour rule. Research shows that when a volunteer contacts a guest within 36 hours of the service, 85 per cent return to worship on the next Sunday. When delayed to 72 hours, only 60 per cent return. After 5 to 7 days, only 15 per cent return. If the pastor makes the contact, you can halve these percentages. It is good if the pastor makes contact, but people think they are paid to do it. If a lay volunteer does the follow-up, it says I love this church and want you to be a part of it. The most powerful testimonial for the church comes from its lay people.
• When guests return, make sure you connect with them again.