Items that Hinder Church Growth: Guest vs. Visitor

With this blog, I begin a series of at least ten observations that hinder growth of many of our urban churches across our nation.  As president of New Life Theological Seminary, I find myself in other churches more than in the church where I am a member.  This has allowed me an opportunity to observe urban churches in various cities and draw a number of conclusions that I believe can help churches experience greater growth in members and revenue.  These steps are not culture or denomination specific and are applicable to all churches.

Churches often make a crucial mistake by the language chosen to recognize non-members.  Pastors set the tone on this, but churches must decide if they are going to have “visitors” or “guests.”  These two terms carry unique differences to the non-member and determines the likelihood of the persons return.  How many times have you heard a pastor welcome visitors to worship and then introduce a non-staff preacher as a “special guest”?  Can the difference be any more obvious?  Visitors are those people who stop unexpectedly by our homes trying to sell us vinyl siding or check our roof for storm damages.  We did not invite them, they are an inconvenience to us, and we really do not want them in our homes.  Guests are people we invite and provide hospitality at our expense, they are not an inconvenience, and we want them to enjoy themselves and to come back again.  When non-members stop in for worship or a special event, they quickly determine if the church views them as a visitor or as a guest.

First impressions are important and every church interested in reaching people should have friendly and welcoming signage.  Most people who are new in a city find a church by checking the Internet.  Every urban church should have a website and an outdoor sign, and both should be user friendly and informative.  I recently checked a church’s website to see what time they met for worship, the church had only a one-page website.  The page told the location of the church, which streets it bordered, the age of the church, and even how many parking lots they have, but it did not list any services or times of service.  It would be much better to have a one-page sight with the church address, phone number, weekly worship and discipleship times, accessibility, and the closeness of the city bus stop.  Additionally, the church should have lighted exterior signage with key service times.  All marketing tools must convey a genuine warmth and friendliness of the congregation and staff.

As worshippers drive in, it is crucial that they quickly see a sufficient number of properly marked guest parking spots close to the building.  Only handicap spaces should be closer to the building entrances than guest parking should.  Pastors and staff members are servants and can easily adapt to spaces far away from the building.  There is seldom justification for having reserved spaces for the pastor and staff.  Ministers who possess a servant’s heart will not ask for or accept special treatment when it comes to parking.  I feel so strongly about this that it would be difficult for me to join a church where the church had a “Reserve for Pastor” parking spot, and I do not believe I am alone on this issue.

Every urban church should have well trained greeters.  These men and women should be knowledgeable about the church and able to assist guests with directional information concerning easiest accessibility for their individual or family needs.  Greeters should be friendly and truly excited to have guest arrive.  I remember one person who used to say, “Seeing you just made my day, I am so glad you are here!”  The key is that this person was speaking the truth and was genuinely glad to see guest arrive.  Greeters should be observing people parking in guest spaces.  This allows the greeters to give immediate assistance and instruction to the guests, and it discourages members from using the space.  One word about this, if you have members parking in guest spaces you have to confront them and address it.  Selfish members who park in guests parking spaces can intentionally or unintentionally hinder a church from growing – lovingly confront it head on.  If that does not work, there are always tow trucks.

The exterior of the church should have clearly marked entrances.  Guests are generally looking for one of two immediate identifiers.  Most guests attend worship before any other service, so it is most crucial that the sanctuary be clearly identifiable from the outside.  Many churches have “Guest Information Services” located near the sanctuary or main entrance.  Observe the two pictures below and see if you find one more inviting and informative than the other.

Leadership should never single guests out during a service or event.  Never ask guests to raise their hand, stand, or even remain seated during the “greet and meet” as it singles guests out and makes them feel uncomfortable.  I recall one church where a pastor pointed out the “visitors” and had us, as visitors, to stand up and introduce ourselves to the church family.  Being a minister, I am accustomed to churches having poorly trained leaders, so I stood up, and introduced our family by name and told the church we were from Charlotte, NC.  The pastor then pointed to another couple and said, “Sir, would you stand and tell us where you are from and introduce you and your wife.”  The man stood and told where they were from and introduced both himself and the woman with him.  He then concluded with the words “she is not my wife.”  This pastor exposed an unmarried couple who were vacationing together.  Do you think they ever went back to that church again?

Churches should develop methods of obtaining guest information through nonintrusive embarrassing methods.  As a pastor, I liked to have a tear off section on the order of service.  We called this the “Communication Form” and used it to register attendance in worship (members and nonmembers alike), to request prayer, to share pending surgery or hospital visits, etc.  While some people will choose not to participate, I have never had anyone complain about it.  We asked all worshippers to place the forms in the offering plates as part of the attendees offering.  Another good method is to design an in chair/pew two-sided multi-use envelope that allows guests and members to give an offering and share information.  These methods do not single out guests, and they treats all worshippers the same.  Train all of your ushers and greeters to “meet and greet” with non-condemning phrases.  My personal favorite is, “I am thankful that we can worship together today.  I don’t believe we have met, my name is Eddie.”  In large congregations members seldom know everyone, so never assume that a person is a member or guest.

Regardless of the message used to collect information from attendees, it is vital that someone follow up with all identifiable guests within 24 hours.  As a pastor, I received this information from the ushers and called our Sunday morning guests that same afternoon.  Our church developed well-trained greeters and ushers and had collection of information down to an art.  We developed a “seven touch” approach for responding to our guest.  Along with a quick call from me as pastor, I also sent a letter out on Monday.  By the time the guest received the letter they usually had already experienced a “front door” visit, a small gift, and a sincere heart-felt “I am so glad we could worship Jesus together Sunday.  I do hope we can worship Him together again real soon.”  In communicating with guests, always avoid language that separates.  Churches and first responders too often use language that communicates a clear partition between members and guests.

Guests are smart and easily detect sincerity and hypocrisy.  Churches cannot fake a desire to be inviting.  Every pastor should ask a few people who are “outside the church” to come and worship, and ask these individuals to observe and provide honest feedback to the pastor on whether the church made them feel like guests or visitors.  Of course, you can also make an observation.  Think about how your church treats non-members and share your information with the rest of us.

So what do you do if you discover that your church is treating non-members as visitors rather than guest?  First, repent both individually and corporately, and ask God to help you and the church to love people more.  Second, talk with your pastor about your concern and see if he is willing to have you and a few others perform a hospitality audit to see how non-members are treated and how they perceive the church.  Pull from the securely hospitality industry a small group to perform this audit.  Assure your pastor that all findings are to help improve the church and its image and is in no way a reflection on him.  Third, using the information gathered through the VIP audit, share the items in this observation with your pastor as discussion points and ask him if he believes they are relevant for the church.  I bet he will be excited that you want to help the church grow and to improve its image to new people attending the church for the first time.  Fourth, be prepared to receive some negative reaction from some of the members.  When this occurs, commit the issue to prayer and keep moving forward making the improvements needed.  Churches can learn much about hospitality from the secular world, so do not be afraid to enlist people in your church or community serving in the hospitality industry.  The most important VIP is the first time guest!