7 Ways to Make Sure Your Guests Have the Best Experience Possible

Would you like every guest who attends your church to become an active and fruitful member?

I know. Dumb question.

It’s really a rhetorical question since all church leaders and members would respond with a resounding “Yes!”

So we tried something rather radical to find out what gives church guests a good experience. We asked them. The question was very straightforward: “What would you advise churches to do so that guests can have the best experience possible?” Here are their seven top responses:

  1. “Make sure your signage is clear and helpful in the parking lot. Our family of six rarely gets ready on Sunday morning without some level of conflict. I come to church stressed. I don’t need to be stressed further by not knowing where to go in the parking lot.”
  2. “Provide clear signage to entry points to the church. I am new to our area, so our family has been visiting churches. I have really been surprised how many churches do not have signs that clearly point to where we are to enter.”
  3. “Have a manned information booth [or table] right where we enter. Some churches put their information person or booth in such far out places that they are not useful at all.”
  4. “Greet me casually, not in a contrived stand and greet time. The stand and greet time is so artificial. I know how friendly a church is by the greetings I get when I enter and when I leave.”
  5. “Show me where to take my children. Even better, take me to where I am to take my children.”
  6. “Sit with me. I’ve been in some churches where we were avoided like the plague. No one sat with us.”
  7. “Explain things I might not understand. Even though I’ve been in church for over ten years, every church is a bit different. If your church does something that is not typical, let us guests know both the ‘what’ and the ‘why.’”

We can speculate what guests would like, or we can listen to them. We took the latter path and gleaned some nuggets of helpful information. Let us know what you think.

Read more from Thom.


 

Want to learn how to create an EXCEPTIONAL Guest Experience at your church? Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp in Cincinnati, OH on August 7-8.

 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thom Rainer

Thom Rainer

Thom S. Rainer is the founder and CEO of Church Answers, an online community and resource for church leaders. Prior to founding Church Answers, Rainer served as president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. Before coming to LifeWay, he served at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for twelve years where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama and earned his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
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