Welcoming Is the Top Factor in Church Choice
A recent study among spiritual seekers aged 25–49 suggests they have a strong desire for genuine community. Knowing everyone will be welcomed, making friends and…
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A recent study among spiritual seekers aged 25–49 suggests they have a strong desire for genuine community. Knowing everyone will be welcomed, making friends and…
How can your congregation be more attentive to those in the community? In this episode we discuss leading in a changing culture with Dr. Juan Francisco Martínez, Professor of Hispanic Studies and Pastoral Leadership at the Fuller School of Theology in Pasadena, California. His most recent book is The Story of Latino Protestants in the United States (Eerdmans, 2018).
One key to effective outreach is making sure that worship visitors feel truly welcome. These 50 Ways will help your congregation make a good first…
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff says that churches sometimes reach out to newcomers in ways that are off-putting or even counterproductive. Unfortunately, several…
Kay Kotan and Blake Bradford explain that a church visitor’s first impression is often formed long before they enter the sanctuary. So, hospitality needs to…
How can you position your church for increased attendance and growth? John Zehring, author of Get Your Church Ready to Grow, suggests six strategies that…
Simple habits of congregational life, such as always sitting in the same pew or greeting the same people after worship, might seem normal and innocuous.…
Rev. Olu Brown started Impact Church in Atlanta 11 years ago with a group of 25 people. Now, it’s one of the 25 fastest growing…
How can dreaming big help your church reach more people? In this episode Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe, Jr., speaks with Rev. Olu Brown of Impact Church in Atlanta about how to creatively reach new people through extreme hospitality and by dreaming big.
Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe says it’s important not only to attract visitors, but to create a space where they will want to stay.…
Churches often welcome young adults with such urgency and expectation that younger visitors can feel overwhelmed. Scott Chrostek, pastor of Resurrection Downtown, says it is…
Scott Crostek, pastor of Resurrection Downtown in Kansas City, says environments that are safe and welcoming for emerging generations are characterized not only by hospitality…
David Brubaker says that most congregations are quick to welcome newcomers but slow to extend a much deeper form of acceptance — genuine inclusion in…
Churches need their most positive, smiling, warmest personalities on their front lines, says Greg Atkinson. Your parking lot team, greeters, ushers, and welcome desk volunteers…
Making new people feel welcome isn’t a sell out to a marketing and customer service mentality, says Rich Birch. It’s consistent with Scripture’s overarching theme…
Researcher Kirk Hadaway has discovered that coffee hour in rapidly growing Episcopal churches is different than in the average congregation. It tends to be more…
Your building has way more signs than you think it does: The locked front door, the boxes piled up in corners that assault the newcomer’s…
In an ideal world, everyone would arrive 10 to 15 minutes early for worship. They would greet five people as they walk toward the building…
Church people might see themselves as welcoming, because they run promotions claiming, “Our doors are open,” and “Our lights are on,” or maybe they hang…
Fiona Haworth and Jim Ozier, authors of Clip-In: Risking Hospitality in Your Church, offer ten tips for improving the work of your hospitality team and…
St. Bartholomew’s is a friendly congregation. It has always perceived and represented itself as a warm and caring community and is the home to some…
One of the disciplines of a disciple of Jesus Christ is to establish relationships with people we do not know — the unconnected — therefore…
The first impression guests leave with determines whether they will be back. So what is it that goes into a good first impression? We interviewed…
How can you best welcome the next newcomer who crosses the threshold of your congregation? Consider Jesus’ call to the disciples. When he said, “Follow…
There is much confusion among churches today resulting from the painful reality that much of our sense of belonging was dependent upon the status and…
Have you ever asked for directions? The practice was much more common in pre-GPS days. As a pastor in small towns and rural areas of…
From beginning to end, the Bible teaches us how to be hospitable. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we find stories of people acting as…
“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples,” says the LORD through the prophet Isaiah (56:7). What could this possibly mean…
Healthy and growing churches pay close attention to the people they count as members, as well as those people who are not yet a part…
In many churches, the approach to greeting worshipers assumes that the main focus should be on greeting guests and that seasoned church members make the…
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.