Various researchers in church growth estimate that 80-90% of the Protestant churches in North America are plateaued or declining. A plateaued church is just maintaining the status quo. One essential factor in growing a church is attracting and welcoming visitors to your church. It is hard enough to persuade folks to visit; if they do visit, you want them to have a positive experience. One aspect of welcoming is greeting the visitors in a warm, friendly way. Personally, I’ve had varied experiences with welcomes.
When my wife and I moved back to Texas in 2015, we began looking for a church home. One friend recommended the large First Baptist Church in a nearby town. We did visit, but to our surprise and dismay, not one person spoke to us or greeted us either on entering or leaving. We resolved not to return to that church. Now, had they greeted us in a friendly way the church might have acquired a highly trained Bible teacher (me) and a faithful tither (my wife). You might think our experience was an anomaly at a church that is normally friendly. No. Three years later, a friend and his wife visited the same church, and no one greeted them.
When we moved over to Fort Worth, again we began searching for a new church home. A friend at Southwestern Seminary recommended a church just two minutes’ drive from our apartment. We visited that church, and the only person who spoke to us was the nice man who opened the door to the auditorium. No one else spoke. That was not a good experience. Our retired missionary friends invited us to try their church. When we went there, we were greeted at the door (by three different people). After we walked into the atrium, a pleasant woman greeted us and introduced herself as the pastor’s wife. After that we saw some other retired missionaries we knew, and they greeted us with hugs and smiles. Well, guess where we joined. Cross Church of North Fort Worth gained a free Bible teacher and a faithful tither. We even serve in Vacation Bible School each summer.
Now, all churches think of themselves as friendly, but are they? I discussed this with Pastor Charlie Wilson several years ago. He has served as a pastor for more than 40 years, and he also served as Director of Evangelism for a state convention. Here’s what he said: “All churches believe they are friendly, but really they are just friendly to their friends.” Dr. Chuck Lawless of Southeastern Baptist Seminary wrote about this recently. He wrote that often one walks into a church foyer and sees the members gathered in circles and enjoying each other, while visitors walk in unnoticed and ungreeted.
So, what can we do? Actually, this is not a difficult problem to solve. We just need to take some positive actions and create an awareness. For one, make sure that you have a greeter at each entrance to the church. Chuck Lawless recommends that you recruit genuinely friendly people to do this. Second, church members tend to sit in the same place in worship each Sunday. This can work in your favor. Appoint one person in each seating section of the auditorium to be the greeter for that section. Ask them to greet the visitor before the service begins and thank them for coming at the close. If at all possible, get their cell number so a follow-up text can be sent. Finally, remind your members over and over to greet visitors. Years ago, I was the interim pastor at a county seat First Baptist Church in Kentucky. One week, I received a note from a recent visitor. She complained that I was the only one who greeted her during her visit. That troubled me, and I read the note to the congregation. Thankfully, it troubled them, also, and they began to do better. It is just really important to raise awareness about welcoming.
Researchers tell us that visitors make up their minds within 10 minutes about whether they will return or not. Let’s be sure they want to return.
Have you had negative or positive experiences like mine? Please share. Do you have any suggestions about improving our church welcome?
