Tips on Retaining Visitors 

Donald Smith relates the following story:

On vacation our family worshiped in a little country church in a new suburb. Two small boys greeted us in the parking lot. "You don't belong here," they said defiantly.

I tried to explain. "We thought we'd like to visit you," I said.

"We haven't seen you before," they insisted. This was their church, and strangers were not welcome.

Adult church members would never think of giving a visitor such a greeting. But many a visitor in many a church has felt the way those little boys tried to make us feel. We did not belong. But belonging is an essential ingredient in the retention of church members. And the incorporation of visitors and new members into the congregational life is critically important to their bonding.

1. First impressions count - initial impulses toward belonging draw people closer or make them feel more distant

2. "Every person wears a sign that says I need to feel important!" Ushers need to take charge of visitors, calling them by name. People in the church need to greet visitors by name.

3. New members (or even regular visitors) may be enlisted as greeters and ushers. This way all might learn each others' names.

4. Ushers should offer to take visitors to "coffee hour" if one is offered. The usher learns the interests of the visitor and introduces the visitor to others that share the same interests.

5. Remember, some people prefer anonymity. Ushers and greeters need to be sensitive to this possibility.

Churches can incorporate new members effectively by

1. caring about them as visitors,

2. carefully preparing them for membership,

3. clearly articulating high expectations for them,

4. clarifying their expectations of the church and staff,

5. enlisting their participation in activities beyond the Sunday worship service,

6. identifying, developing, and using their gifts in significant service,

7. giving them opportunities to shape the program,

8. providing diligent pastoral care (or lay pastoral care early in their membership.

One visitor to a small church writes:

"At last I felt at home spiritually. After a couple of visits, members called on the phone. I got three or four notes welcoming me. "We were glad to see you," they would say. There was no heavy recruitment. I felt welcomed out of an interest and concern for me and not because they needed another member. Young and old made me and my children feel at home."

Unity Prayer by Jane Parker Huber:

You have called us from division into unity and hope.
Each and all belong together in the world's kaleidoscope.
Help us listen to the voices daring us to be and do