Hello and Welcome from … Church
We are so glad you visited us recently! We hope we had the opportunity to meet you personally and hand you one of our welcome packets.
Inside the welcome packet you will find an outline of our current ministries as well as our church’s statements of faith. A summary of the welcome packet information is also attached to this email for your reference. More information can also be found at [website].
Whether you were visiting with family, passing through, or looking for a new church home, we were delighted to have you and hope to see you again soon!
If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to reach out.
For the Preeminence of Christ,
[name]
Church Administrator
We have not reached out. They liked the service. The people seem nice. The preaching was good, and the pastor, whom they did meet, was likeable. And yet, the email example above illustrates a perplexing trend among relatively small churches under 200 members.
Why imitate large churches who pretend to be personable with many visitors? I understand the challenge for large churches, having served as executive minister of one. It is difficult enough to keep up with church members, much less the many visitors coming in and out. They must resort to form letters that merge in names.
But being truly personable is the advantage that small churches have, and yet, they are taking little advantage of their advantage. Instead they revert to big church practices to make their “personal” connections: welcome desks (that visitors must approach) and form letters and emails.
To give another example is the “Contact Us” email form to use on church websites. The inquirer wishing to make contact fills out a “Name,” “Subject,” and “Message” boxes, trusting that their email will go to the anonymous person at the other end.
If you are small (200 and under), take advantage of your size. You pastors know who your visitors are. Approach them before the service. Stand at the door after the service so that you can greet them. Don’t put your greeting team behind a welcome desk that visitors must approach. Rather, let them be free to approach the visitors. If you have greeters at doors, teach those greeters to say more than “We’re glad to have you” or “Would you like our (coffee mug, cup, load of bread, etc.”). Most of you have a handful of members who are naturally outgoing. Tap them to meet and get to know those strangers who have walked through your doors.
For those visitors who do take the time to fill out their contact information, understand that they would not give away phone numbers and email addresses if they did not wish to be contacted. You pastors have the time to make those contacts, especially by email. Or, again, have those members who are not shy make the calls.
The point is to do what you can do better than any megachurch—make personal connection. Show personal interest in those who walked through your doors. Take the time to learn about them. If you do, they will come back. They want a church where, not necessarily everybody, but at least the pastor and a few others know their name.
