5-page paper synthesizing the 3-5 ideas from the readings that made the greatest impact on you, and how those ideas apply to yo

Identify First-Time Guests

Searcy indicates that a healthy church should expect five guests for every 100 regular attendees.⁰ If a church does not approximate this ratio, the leaders should examine other areas. However, a church should anticipate guests and focus on identifying each new person who attends the church. When a church has first-time guests, but fails to create a plan for identifying the guests, it willfully allows a valuable person to quietly slip through the cracks without making connection to the church.

The Communication Card

Research indicates that the use of a Communication or Connection Card provides the most effective means for identifying first-time guests.⁰ At some point in the service, a church leader asks everyone to complete this card. Some churches insert the card into the weekly bulletin while other churches distribute the card during the service. Usually, first-time guests prefer not to be singled out from regular attendees; thus, everyone is encouraged to fill out the Communication Card. Rick Warren, based on his experience, learned that “when people feel self-conscious, they raise their emotional defenses. Since we want to communicate to the unchurched, our first task is to reduce their anxiety so that they drop their defenses.”⁰

When correctly implemented, churches find that approximately 80 percent of first-time guests will turn the card in at the appropriate time.⁰ Churches create many interesting ways to encourage people to fill out the Communication Card. Some churches make it a fun time during the service, while others offer a gift (like a Starbucks card) to the person whose Communication Card is drawn. Clarensau observes:

The gift should be viewed as the first step toward an intentional relationship. By giving the church my contact information, I am yielding my anonymity and expressing my willingness for the connection to continue. Those who do so to receive a gift have demonstrated that any reluctance they feel about being known is smaller than their desire for the free gift.⁰

Setting the technique aside, the goal is to collect as many Communication Cards as possible.

Dale Carnegie, in his classic work, How to Win Friends and Influence People, helps leaders identify means for influencing the behaviors and attitudes of other people. Therefore, leaders must attempt to put themselves in the place of a first-time guest and make them feel comfortable in this new environment. Carnegie suggests the following ideas: (1) be sincere— do not promise anything you cannot deliver; (2) know exactly what you want the other person to do—do not make them guess; (3) tell them what benefits they will receive when asking them to do something for you.⁰ Carnegie’s principles readily apply to first-time guests in the church.

Who are the First-time Guests, and What are They Thinking?

Although it is always difficult to put yourself into someone else’s place, one should make every attempt to do so. According to Roy Oswald, “a crisis or transition usually propels an individual to go out and search for a church family. Fifty percent of those in our study had just geographically relocated and were looking for a suitable church in their new community.”⁰ Based on that information, a church can construct a program that will make at least fifty percent of their first-time guests more comfortable. Often when people first relocate, they have not set up normal housekeeping activities. Dolan tells a very interesting story of how one couple used their gift of hospitality to welcome guests:

One congregation I read about was able to identify 200 people who joined that congregation primarily because one couple made it their ministry to invite visitors to brunch in their home. Here is the great thing about inviting people to brunch: it doesn’t matter if they come or not. It is not actually eating the meal that makes the impression on visitors, but the fact that some cared enough to invite them. Being invited to someone’s home for a meal is the single best way I know to make a positive first impression. That is important, since a congregation only has one opportunity to make a first impression.⁰

Since fifty percent of first-time guests have recently relocated, the church could prepare gifts that would help the first-time guest get settled into their new community. This could include “A Guide for New Residents,” which includes referrals to professionals like doctors, dentists, lawyers, and accountants. It could also include references to local handymen, auto mechanics, or construction workers as well as coupons to local businesses and restaurants. The guide should also include pertinent information about the ministries of the church.

When planning how to welcome first-time guests, make sure to include everyone in your congregation. In other words, create a team approach for this project. Laurie Beth Jones lists three things that a church needs to remember when endeavoring to get the whole church working together and behind important projects:

1. 
   Keep things simple—reminding your team of the business they are really in.
   
2. 
   Hold everyone responsible for customer satisfaction—making service the ultimate priority.
   
3. 
   Release the genius of your team—freeing them to use their highest gifts.⁰
   

Part of serving first-time guests well is making sure that everyone in the church understands that first-time guests are the key to continual and sustained growth in the church. Furthermore, Jones emphasizes the importance of turning work into a cause, as this helps people develop a passion for the task—even the task of welcoming first-time guests properly.⁰

When first-time guests walk into the church, they are some of the loneliest people on earth. Research conducted by George Gallup Jr. concludes that Americas are some of the loneliest people on the planet.⁰ How is that possible when three-fourths of Americans live in metropolitan areas and two-thirds of those Americans choose to live in the suburbs?⁰ American families and individuals participate in so many activities that the activities themselves keep people from forming the social contacts they really need. Consequently, the average family or single individual who has just relocated felt somewhat lonely before they moved. Now, in the midst of their new environment, the loneliness seems exacerbated. The church can capitalize on meeting this lonely person’s needs by helping the person feel wanted, loved, and respected. Randy Frazee, recognizing this need, encourages the church of the twenty-first century to “do more than add work to an already overbooked society; it must design new structures that help people simplify their lives and develop more meaning, depth, purpose, and community.”⁰ The church must not smother or ignore their first-time guests, but rather welcome them as if they were a guest in one’s own home. Introduce the guests to other people with the thought of connecting the person to other individuals who may have a common interest. Offer guests refreshments, hand them a bulletin, and escort them to a seat. After the service, greet the guest by name, wish them a good day, and invite the person to come back next Sunday or to enjoy other ministries of the church.

The fragileness of first-time guests cannot be overstated. Gainsbrugh comments: “Ethology is the study of the repetitive, territorial, and habit-forming characteristics of people. Ethologically, the most fragile of all church-folk is the first-time guest.”⁰ Gainsbrugh lists several ideas to help the first-time guest enjoy a stress-free encounter with the church: (1) establish first-time guest parking, (2) provide a Hospitality and Information Booth by the main entrance, (3) place greeters at the doors to personally welcome first-time guests and help them know where to go, (4) greet guests after the service by hosting a Visitor’s Reception where each guest receives a small gift, or where the guests have their photo taken, or a hospitality team hosts the first-time guest to lunch.⁰

First-time guests are God’s gift to the local church; therefore, the church should be ever mindful of treating a first-time guest as if Christ himself had entered the church. Elmer Towns, Ed Stetzer, and Warren Bird comment: “People bring their friends when they are excited about the church—they find it attractive and are convinced that others will as well.”⁰ Matthew 25:40 declares, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” When an individual or church feeds the hungry, gives a drink to the thirsty, treats a stranger with kindness, gives a needy person clothing, or visits the sick or imprisoned, it is as if it was done unto Jesus himself. Christ promises to build His church, and when the church family welcomes first-time guests well, Christ nods with approval.