A church should be prepared for visitors on any given Sunday. There’s no guarantee that they will come back again. But a church can be a welcoming space so that the visitor knows that they are welcome to come back if they decide to.
In some cases, it might not be in the church’s influence for the visitor to return. Here are some reasons that a church might not be able to counter:
However, there are some reasons visitors don’t return that churches might be able to prevent. Take some time to think about these. If any of them resonate with what you think visitors might be experiencing at your home church, make a game plan of how you can be a positive influence.
1. Feeling Ignored. You can counter this by having members acting as greeters at multiple places in the building to help visitors feel welcome.
2. Feeling Awkward in the Greeting Time During the Service. You can help greeters and ushers to be on the lookout for people that seem awkward during the stand-and-greet time in the service. At the very least, they can make eye contact and smile.
3. Not Knowing How to Get More Information. You can make sure that it’s very clear how a visitor can get more information about the church. Give instructions in the bulletin. Include them in the announcements from the pulpit.
4. Feeling Distant Because of Sitting in the Back. Also, make sure that this information is as clear in the upper seating as in the lower seating. Visitors could be sitting in the back or top rows, where they could easily be missed. Make it easy for them no matter where they’re sitting.
5. Thinking the Website Doesn’t Give Relevant Information. Your website should list how visitors can get more information as well. The visitor may check the website when they get home if they have any questions. You might want to keep a list of frequently asked questions on your website too so they can instantly learn more. They may not think of a question on their own, but they may see one of the FAQs that they relate to.
6. Hearing Phrases They Don’t Understand. A new person may get confused if they hear words from the pulpit or members that are “Christianese.” A new believer won’t understand all the systematic theological terms that people who have been in the church a long time know. It’s okay that these words are in your messages but try to make the context clear enough, so a new person doesn’t feel lost and not get anything out of the message. Also, this is another reason to make it clear how a visitor can get more information. Let them know that they can ask any question they want, including questions about the church’s theology and doctrine.
7. Filling Out a Guest Card and Not Hear Anything. If they fill out a card and give you some of their contact information, make sure that someone acts on that during the week they visit. Send them a postcard, an email, or give them a call to see if they do have any questions and to tell them that you hope to see them again.
8. Needing Help But Not Knowing How to Ask for Prayer. Make it easy for a visitor to ask for prayer either in person or confidentially. Church should be a place where anyone can get prayer for anything in their life. They may have come to your church because they don’t have anyone to talk to. They may feel like they are hanging by a thread. They may have lost all hope. Do whatever you can to make it easy for them to ask for prayer.
People come to a church for a lot of reasons: they may need help of some kind, they’re feeling hopeless about life in general, and/or the Holy Spirit has placed something in their heart that causes them to yearn for more.
The main way to make your church more viable to visitors, and regular attendees as well, is to feed them well from God’s Word. No one should walk out of a church feeling like they simply got a pep talk. They should walk out feeling like they heard the undiluted Truth of God’s Word. This is what causes people to change. God’s Word is powerful.
They should be encouraged to change things in their lives that don’t match up to God’s ways in Scripture. They should walk out with something tingling inside of them about something they could do better, and also feel like they have hope to actually make those changes.
They may feel convicted, but they should never walk out feeling condemned—rather, they should feel hopeful that their lives can be better.
By better, I don’t mean that everything will work out and all of their wildest dreams will come true. It is a fallen world and trials will always be in everyone’s lives. But God can be with them as they walk through those difficulties. And they need to hear of the ultimate hope that God offers eternal life.
Feed your congregation the Word at every meeting. Preach the Gospel to them. We all need to hear the Gospel message over and over again. Teach the sheep in your pasture, both old and new, the Truth in the Bible. Teach them how to apply God’s Word to their lives. When you do that, people will come back each Sunday for more.
People need God and people need your church to point them to God. So never give up on trying to reach the people who show up in your church.
Life is full of many sorrows, but Jesus has overcome those trials. So, be a place where people can meet Jesus.
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