Did you know 70% of first-time visitors to your church don’t return for a second visit?
If you’re committed to seeing your church grow, it’s time to make a change.
Your church greeting team are the face of your congregation and play a pivotal role in shaping visitors’ perceptions.
A strong hospitality team not only encourages your members to confidently invite friends but ensures that every guest receives a warm welcome.
The hospitality your church greeting team provides offers a crucial first impression, and remember, you only get one chance at it.
If you don’t have a church welcome team yet then check out How to Recruit More Church Volunteers to find out how to get more people to step up and serve.
Here are 5 common sense tips for church welcome teams:
1. Be Happy, But Not Too Happy
When you greet visitors coming into the church make eye contact and smile, shake people’s hands, smile and be friendly – but don’t overdo it.
For one, I’m not really a people person until after my third cup of tea in the morning and secondly, nobody likes too much cheese on their pizza.
Just tone it down a bit, you’re in Church, not Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory!
Generally speaking, it’s better to be overly enthusiastic than rude or not interested.
Just be natural and let your personal warmth shine through π
2. Avoid The Breath Of Death
The Word of life should not be met with the breath of death. This is a massive no-no.
If you’re the welcoming team leader maybe have some chewing gum or mints on hand in case of emergency.
Seriously, there’s nothing worse. Enough said!
Take Your Church To The Next Level π
3. Introduce Yourself
Keep a keen eye out for newbies as your handing out the bulletins at the door. Be bold and introduce yourself.
It’s better to say “I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Simon, nice to meet you” than to ask them if it’s their first time.
If it is their first time it put the spotlight on them (how many people are going to ask me today if it’s my first time?!).
If it is not their first time then that’s just… awkward π³
4. Make Yourself Available
For all you know, this is the first time in that person’s life they’ve ever stepped in a church and who can guess what crazy expectations are rolling around in his head.
Be friendly and helpful and assure the nervous first-timer that everything is alright.
This takes getting the balance right, you don’t want to hound a person because that can be detrimental too.
5. Point Them In The Right Direction
If a visitor has never been to your church before, offer directions to the bathrooms, show them where the Kids Church program is and tell them where they can get a coffee before the service.
When you’re new, and especially if you’re alone, having a point of contact can be really helpful and reassuring.
If you want to increase the effectiveness of your hospitality team I highly recommend you take a look at How to Wow Your Church Guests, a really useful book about making a meaningful first impression with church guests.
Ready To Take Your Church To The Next Level? π
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What Tips Would You Give Church Welcome Teams?
What bad experiences have you had with church greeters?
Do you some tips of your own you’d like to share?
Scroll down and let us know, we’d love to hear from you! ππ
Thank you. These 5 tips are awesome and very helpful. I will be sure to implement this within my own church team. Perhaps it will be helpful also to include general kindness somewhere along the lines. As you mention, often times people will not return if they have been given an awkward/negative welcome. I am thinking of a situation where an overzealous member has pointed out “wrongs” and made some comments which were interpreted as passive-agressive by the visitor. It has not created a good image for our church.
It’s great that you mentioned that when you greet visitors coming into the church make eye contact and smile, shake peopleβs hands, smile, and be friendly, but donβt overdo it. My sister and I will start going to our new church here in town since we just moved here last week. I’ll share this with her to make a good impression on our family in the community. Thanks!
Thank you for these exciting tips…..Jessie
Thank you for the tips
Thank you, I’m glad you found them helpful. Here’s to making our churches more visitor friendly π