What can visitors expect when they show up at your church? Answering this one question equips you to engage them more effectively and help them want to return. But this requires seeing your church through their eyes.
It’s easy to fall into a regular cycle of service preparation and lose sight of what kind of first impression you are giving. But you can gain significant insights by training yourself to see your church from a variety of perspectives.
Here are five areas you ought to see from a guest’s point of view:
1. Parking lot.
A visitor builds an impression the minute they drive into your parking lot. What is their experience like starting from when they pull onto your property?
Do your church members tend to take the spaces closer to the building? Do visitors have to make a long trek from the back of the parking lot? Are the spaces clearly marked, or are they so faded it’s hard to tell where they are? Would you benefit from a lot attendant or a selection of designated visitor-only spots near the building?
2. Communication and signage.
Once they get into your church, is it obvious what the next steps are? Is there someone to greet them and make them feel welcome? Is the signage visible and obvious? Guests need to quickly be able to see where they can find:
- Restrooms
- The children’s area and nursery
- The sanctuary
- Refreshments
If you have house rules for the sanctuary, are they clear? You do not want a visitor to be embarrassed by carrying coffee into the sanctuary if that is not preferred. Remember, many of your first-time guests are already a little uncomfortable and anxious. Straightforward signage or communication can alleviate a lot of stress.
3. Childcare and check-in security.
Here is another vital area for visitors. You cannot afford to think about your nursery or kids’ area as if it is “just us.” Parents care deeply about their children’s physical and emotional safety, and the environment and staff in the childcare area can either put them at ease or make them decide never to return.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Is the childcare security procedure clearly explained to new parents?
- Are guest parents able to tell where to go and whom to talk to?
- Can workers in the children’s area cheerfully answer questions?
- Can anxious parents confidently entrust their children to your staff?
4. Service elements.
When you are considering the average church service, you want to ask two questions:
- What is this service experience like for someone who has come from another church tradition?
- How would someone comprehend the church service if they didn’t know anything about Christianity?
Answering these questions can identify pain points in your service you might not realize existed.
For instance, how do you handle communion? If someone knows nothing about the Lord’s Supper, would they walk away with a better understanding? Or if they came from a church where they receive the elements differently than you do, how would they know what to do? How much clarification do you give about what is happening?
Sit down with your staff and ask these same two questions about your music, the sermon, announcements, etc. The conversation could be an eye opener.
5. Offering.
The offering is one of those things that happens every week and tends to get put on autopilot. But when you think about it from an outsider’s point of view, it could be an uncomfortable experience.
How could you preface your offering time so that it makes sense to first-time visitors? Do guests feel pressured to participate? How can you demonstrate that generosity is another aspect of worship? Do you clearly communicate all the ways people can give beyond cash or checks?
Hospitality is in the details.
When you take time to evaluate your facility and your service from a guest’s point of view, you can be a better host. And in doing so, you can eliminate barriers that might make guests not want to return. Attending to the details can help create a space and an opportunity for people to pause long enough to hear the Lord’s voice, so evaluating each of these five areas is well worth your time and effort.
Let’s journey together.
You don’t need to do ministry alone. You can find opportunities to connect, plus more content and conversations about church administration, at XP Summit: xpsummit.org.
