6 Turn offs for church visitors posted by Cliff from The Gospel Blog.com.
ChurchSync Doesn't Turn Visitor's Off
Many churches go to great lengths in order to welcome church visitors. I’m sure that we all want people to feel comfortable when they attend our churches. Even though we often mean well, we have a tendency to turn off or turn away some people with our actions.
1. Visitors are asked to stand up and make a speech.Research has shown that most people do not like to stand up and talk in front of groups, especially when this is a group of people they don’t know.
I’m sure you’ve heard this before: “Will all visitors please stand.”
Talking in front of the whole church may seem very common to most of us. However, this is a completely new concept for someone who is unchurched.
2. No one welcomes them at the door.
In my opinion, people that don’t normally attend church expect church people to be friendly. Church visitors should at least be met with a “good morning” or “hello” and a smile. I don’t think that is too much to ask. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen.
In many churches, it is not uncommon for a visitor to walk in and take their seat without ever being greeted.
3. They get placed in a “bad” seat.
We all know that there are certain people that we would rather not sit next to in church. Most of the time it is because these people talk too much during service.
Attention ushers! Let’s try to do a better job at making sure that visitors and guests do not sit next to these people. It is hard for any visitor to enjoy the service if the person next to them is constantly talking.
4. No child care
More and more churches have special accommodations for children. This is a huge factor when people are selecting a new church to attend.
5. Nobody talks to them after church
I’ve seen this plenty of times. A visitor sits through an entire service and leaves at the end without anyone saying anything to them. Your church may be a wonderful and supportive family, but people will never know it if nobody greets them after church.
6. Follow-up caller is pushy
Many churches have visitors fill out information cards. A day or two after the service a member of the church calls to follow-up with the visitor.
Instead of being friendly and pleasant, some people treat this like a sales call. They try to close a deal for Jesus and hard sell a person into making a return visit to the church.
We can offer all of the free coffee and gift packets we want. Nothing can substitute positive or negative human interaction. When people visit your church, it is important to give them the most positive and pleasant experience possible.
What do you think? Have you encountered any turn off when you visited another church?
1. Visitors are asked to stand up and make a speech.Research has shown that most people do not like to stand up and talk in front of groups, especially when this is a group of people they don’t know.
I’m sure you’ve heard this before: “Will all visitors please stand.”
Talking in front of the whole church may seem very common to most of us. However, this is a completely new concept for someone who is unchurched.
2. No one welcomes them at the door.
In my opinion, people that don’t normally attend church expect church people to be friendly. Church visitors should at least be met with a “good morning” or “hello” and a smile. I don’t think that is too much to ask. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen.
In many churches, it is not uncommon for a visitor to walk in and take their seat without ever being greeted.
3. They get placed in a “bad” seat.
We all know that there are certain people that we would rather not sit next to in church. Most of the time it is because these people talk too much during service.
Attention ushers! Let’s try to do a better job at making sure that visitors and guests do not sit next to these people. It is hard for any visitor to enjoy the service if the person next to them is constantly talking.
4. No child care
More and more churches have special accommodations for children. This is a huge factor when people are selecting a new church to attend.
5. Nobody talks to them after church
I’ve seen this plenty of times. A visitor sits through an entire service and leaves at the end without anyone saying anything to them. Your church may be a wonderful and supportive family, but people will never know it if nobody greets them after church.
6. Follow-up caller is pushy
Many churches have visitors fill out information cards. A day or two after the service a member of the church calls to follow-up with the visitor.
Instead of being friendly and pleasant, some people treat this like a sales call. They try to close a deal for Jesus and hard sell a person into making a return visit to the church.
We can offer all of the free coffee and gift packets we want. Nothing can substitute positive or negative human interaction. When people visit your church, it is important to give them the most positive and pleasant experience possible.
What do you think? Have you encountered any turn off when you visited another church?
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