Your Visitors

First impressions are vital.

Your role is to make church visitors feel welcomed and let the visitor know that they feel connected, so they feel comfortable to come back.

Make an evaluation and invite a mystery visitor to give feedback.
Your church website should be inviting enough that the person wants to come to the church.
Have welcome team.
Why not create a visitor centre in the foyer of your church? You can have your welcome team here, also leaflets and information.
Why not have a connection card that your guest can fill out. You could include Learn about being in a relationship with Jesus. Learn more about becoming baptised. Take part in a small group at church. Invite someone to pay them a visit at their house. Talk about if they have prayer needs. Get involved in church service.
Your church community knows where everything is, but your guest does not, have good signage for people to get around your church.
Have a board or screen that introduces the key members of the church, so your guests can recognise them and also know who to come to if they have a problem or need information.
Have a welcome pack and a free coffee voucher inside. It also helps your congregation to spot a new guest and gives them the opportunity to talk to them.
During the service have a welcome speech for newcomers including online.
When the offering baskets are handed out make it plain to first-time guests that while giving is completely voluntary and primarily for church members, they are welcome to do so if they want to.
At the end of the service point out to guests what’s happening next e.g. where coffee is being served.
Leaving the building – ask the visitor to come back if they want to.
Some people are apprehensive to come to church because they do not know if they child/ren are going to be catered for. Instill confidence in the parent/s/guardian that their child is safe. Tell the child/ren and parent/s/guardian where they can find each other.
Have a follow-up plan which includes the individuals’ requirements from their connect card. People return to your church if the outreach to them is swift. Your welcome team can organise this follow-up. Some ideas that outreaching to the visitor could be thanking them for visiting. Ask them if they need anything. Would they be open to a home visit. If it is OK to text them reminding them about key events at church.
Hold a getting to know you, meal or afternoon tea. This is an effective way to get the congregation together with the new visitors and build relationships.
Is your decor out of date or tired? Is your church too hot or too cold? Is your church light or dark? Is the church too quiet or too noisy? Are there empty spaces on the walls or too much visual noise?
Invite your visitors to a Bible group, but also be aware that some people might find this off putting straightaway so be guided by your guest.
Pray for your new visitors, through home groups and prayer groups.
Is your congregation a religious group or a community to reach out?
Have a guest book for visitors to sign, this will enable you to ask for contact details.
Encourage your congregation to say hello and be welcoming.
If someone in your congregation is able to do sign language it would be worth considering putting them on your welcoming team.
Have a team that can bring disabled or elderly people to church. Make sure your church is disabled friendly. Review your facilities on a regular basis with a disability task group.

Click to access A%20place%20to%20belong%20Guide.pdf

A place to belong Church Of England **

It might be worth investigating how your church service can be multilingual

Click to access How-to-decide-whether-to-use-machine-translation-in-church-services.pdf

Written by Peter Bates, peter.bates96@gmail.com **

Your welcome team

Be welcoming but do not overdo it, but also be attentive. Welcome and blessings from …… Church. It’s wonderful to see you here. My name is ….. Do not be too complicated, do not be too long but not too short either, be concise but welcoming.
Make the visitor feel comfortable and feel relaxed.
Be presentable.
Introduce yourself, ask them if this is their first time? If it is not but you not met before, introduce yourself and say that you obviously were not around when they first came, do not let the situation become awkward.
There will be several people coming through the church door be welcoming to everyone but be available to newcomers.
Be attentive to your visitor but do be overbearing at the same time.
Give them the welcome pack and point out key areas in the church. Most importantly remind them of your name and if they need any help to come to you.
Respect that some people feel more comfortable finding their own way around.

Welcome Pack

It’s similar to offering a tiny memento to a guest at your church as a thank you for coming. It gives them something physical they can take with them. It’s a rapid method of sharing updates and activities in the church community.

You could use a folder or a gift bag.
You could put a little gift in e.g. a church bookmark/pen/keyring or a free coffee voucher. On information leaflets and your free gift, it would be ideal to have your church logo on it. Remember to set a budget and keep to it.

What to include in welcome pack

A welcome letter
Invitation to next week
Description about your church and it’s vision.
Links to previous sermons
Information on what’s going on in your church e.g. home groups, Bible groups, craft groups so on. Do not let your church be regarded as a Sunday service, weddings, and funerals building, show there is more going on.
Upcoming events
Free gift
What your current sermon series is
Your social media links, YouTube sermons and website details
Connect card.
Contact details – this is for your visitor to hand to you so you can keep in contact.
Include multilingual materials.
Consider visually impaired e.g. large print, or audio version. (An audio version could be very helpful for people with learning difficulties) Hearing loop
Access statement

World Bibles multilingual https://worldbibles.org/search_languages/eng

New Testament French https://francaissimple.bible/00-FRT-000.html

Filipino Christian Resources https://www.filipinochristianresources.com/