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Home > Articles > Helping Guests Feel at Home
Helping Guests Feel at Home
5 churches' bright ideas for a warmer welcome.
James Appleby, Gene Appel, Merle Mees, Wayne Ogimachi, Jim Tomberlin

Topics:Community impact, Fellowship, Hospitality, Newcomers, Outreach, Relationships, Unchurched, Visitors & guests
Filters:Church staff, Evangelism, Greeter, Hospitality, Outreach, Pastor, Usher, Worship leader
Purpose:Evangelism
References:Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2
Date Added:July 11, 2007

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6 Ounces of Security

We employ four strategies to make our church more welcoming.

  1. Hospitality time. We have a 20-minute segment between our two services when we provide coffee, juice, and donuts in our lobby. Greeters and hosts mingle and welcome people with cup in hand (one greeter remarked, "It's amazing how a six-ounce cup provides a sense of security for a 180-pound male").
  2. Response cards. Our worship bulletins have perforated tear-offs that members and guests are asked to fill out and place in the offering plate. It has spaces for all kinds of quick interaction (such as "My decision today," "I'd like information," "Prayer need"), which we try to respond to quickly.
  3. Deacon-of-the-week. The deacon-of-the-week attempts to call guests following the worship services to thank them for attending. This gives our guests a personal touch from someone other than staff.
  4. Proactive small groups. This will eventually become our primary means of assimilation. Small groups meet twice a month and are asked to invite guests to their meetings (we do this in lieu of our evening worship service). We provide group leaders the names of interested guests to contact each Monday.

—James Appleby
Covenant Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas

Friends Don't Let Friends Drift

The most important thing we do is develop the value within our people to build relationships with spiritually unconnected people and bring them to church. Thus the welcoming part is easy because most guests come along with a regular.

How do we develop this value in our people? We remind each other that every day we come into contact with people Jesus came to rescue. Our staff has made a commitment to pray regularly for five to ten people in our lives who are not connected with Jesus Christ. An attitude like that in the leadership tends to penetrate the rest of the church family. Several times a year, we remind the entire congregation of our ministry strategy, which includes hanging out with people who don't yet know Christ.

We make sure the people "up front" in church services communicate warmth to guests. That spirit of friendliness has a way of being contagious.

We also recognize that church bulletins, signs, and an information center and parking that are user-friendly help people feel more comfortable in a place they've never been before.

—Gene Appel
Central Christian Church,
Las Vegas, Nevada

Better Hospitality

We tried a hospitality room where we invited guests to come and meet the staff following the service. It didn't work.

We identified several reasons: (1) The room was not located conveniently, and people needed involved directions to find it, (2) people checking out a church for the first time seemed hesitant to walk into the "showroom" to be pounced upon by the clergy, and (3) members did not bring their friends to the room.