National Back to Church Sunday is just 10 days away! Here are a few last minute things you can still do that will help you see more visitors and connect with them when they come to your church! 

1. Update Your Church Website and Announce Your Plans. Be sure to include the Back to Church Sunday promotional video and web graphics that were included in the 2019 Church Kit. 
2. Decorate your church in the Together theme. You can still order themed stock items like bulletin shells, poster and t-shirts for the big event. 
3. Hand out invitations and posters to members this weekend so they can invite their friends and neighbors to church.  
4. Begin (or continue) to post on Social Media. Remind your congregation to like your posts and then share them on their own pages with their friends. The videos in the church kit are also great tools to use on social media. 
5. Show one of the Invite or Promo Videos during your service this Sunday. The Invite videos are a powerful reminder of the importance of inviting people to church. The Promo videos are a great way to build excitement and get everyone ready for next week’s big event. 
6. Send an email to your congregation- encourage them to be bold and bring a friend to church with them next week –  you can include one of the videos in the email as a fun, engaging way to get your point across. 
7. Post outdoor banners with your service times on the street outside your church – this will help visitors find your church and feel more welcome. Eye-catching flag banners along the street or up your driveway are another great tool to make your church more visible. 
8. Plan an hour of Prayer. Set aside time with your staff and ministry leaders to pray that visitors will come and feel welcome and ready to learn more about Jesus. You may want to ask your congregation to also set aside a few minutes the day before your service to pray for the event and the people they have invited. 

We are so excited to hear about your plans and what God does in your church – please share your stories with us on our Facebook page or through email. 

Visiting a new church for the first time tends to be intimidating — there’s a lot for visitors to figure out! You want to welcome visitors to church and make them feel at home and at ease once they arrive, but how can you make that happen?

Here are 10 ways to make sure your church creates a welcoming environment for new visitors:

1. Have a great church website

You get one chance to make a great first impression, and your church’s website is often the first interaction a visitor has with your church. Your website should show visitors exactly what to expect when they visit you. Creating a great website takes time, but these five must-haves will ensure your website is visitor-friendly:

• Service start and end times. Displaying the start and end time of your service lets visitors know when to arrive, and how long they can expect to stay. Make sure these are prominently displayed on your homepage.
• Your church’s address. People can’t visit your church if they don’t know where to find you! Display this on your home page, too. Want to go one step further? Include a Google Maps plugin so visitors can easily click, enter their address, and get directions straight to your church.
• Contact information. You need to include your church’s phone number and a contact email on your homepage. Potential visitors want to see that they can easily get in touch with you. You don’t have to provide the pastor’s direct email — hello@yourchurchname.com or info@yourchurchname.com are great options for general inquiries about your church.
• A page for new visitors. Have a tab on your homepage titled “New Here?” or “What to Expect” that invites visitors to click. This should take them to a page that tells them everything they need to know about attending your church for the first time. Include information about what they should wear, where to park, where to go once they arrive, and childcare options.
• Access to previous sermons. Having recent sermons on your website gives visitors a chance to experience your teaching style before they visit. This lets them figure out if your church might be a good fit for them. Listening to prior sermons also helps put new guests at ease on their first visit because they’ll have an idea of what to expect from you. Have a page on your website that houses your sermons, and make sure to link to it from the homepage and from the designated new visitors page.

Now that we’ve made sure new visitors will get a great first impression from your website, let’s cover what they need from you when they arrive on Sunday. (If you need a great new website – click here)

2. Easy parking

Your new visitors have your address and are excited about their first visit to your church, but they’re nervous, too! They need to know what to do once they arrive. Put them at ease from the moment they turn into your parking lot with clear signage. Here’s what you need:

• Good signage. First of all, a sign by the road lets your visitors know they’ve arrived at the right place. This is especially important if your church has a longer driveway and is not easily visible from the road. Banners and flags are great options — they catch the attention of those driving by and make your location unmistakable!
• Parking spaces. Once a new visitor pulls into your parking lot, they need to know where to go. Signs that point to general parking, signs that designate spots reserved for visitors, or friendly volunteers directing people to empty spots are all great options to take the pressure off visitors.
• A clear path indoors. Don’t forget to have signs pointing visitors to the inside of the building. Churches often have many sets of doors, and the last thing you want is a new visitor trying to enter the building through locked doors. Having signs (and volunteers) that point visitors to the correct entrance will put your guests at ease from the start.

3. Friendly Greeters

Greeters are the first points of contact for new visitors. They can make anxious guests feel cared for and comforted as they navigate the hectic first few minutes of arriving at your church. Train greeters to be warm and engaging with each person who walks through the door. Hospitality is key!

On big Sundays like Easter and Christmas, it’s especially helpful to have greeters at several different points:

• Exterior doors. Greeters by the exterior doors offer a friendly welcome and serve as the first point of reference for any questions a visitor may have.
• Info booth/welcome desk. If your church doesn’t have a designated spot for visitors to find information, set one up! Have a sign that clearly marks the booth and make sure greeters are trained to answer any prospective questions a new visitor has. Greeters should also be ready and willing to escort visitors wherever they need to go (children’s ministry, sanctuary, etc.).
• Sanctuary doors. Have greeters stand at the sanctuary doors. They can hand out bulletins and show visitors where to go inside the sanctuary.

Keep in mind that all greeters should receive some training on best practices. They should be friendly but not overwhelming, able to answer any questions, and able to direct visitors to any part of the building. Above all, they need to be good people readers!

4. Interior Signs

Visitors need to be able to know where to go as soon as they walk through your doors. Yes, you have greeters in place, but they could be occupied with other guests. Plus, if a guest is on the shy side, they might prefer finding their way on their own. This means you need signs that clearly indicate where to find:

• the info booth/welcome desk
• restrooms
• childcare
• the sanctuary

These signs should not be handwritten or printed from a computer. They need to be large enough to be easily read from far away!     

5. Inviting Atmosphere

What does this mean? Your church needs to be clean, and it needs to be well decorated. A dingy lobby or dirty restroom is an instant turn-off to church visitors. It shows them that you don’t take pride in the presentation of your church. It’s important to be good stewards of our spaces, so here are two must-haves for an inviting atmosphere:

• Clean spaces. Your church should be clean all the time, but it’s especially important to make it sparkle on a big Sunday that attracts lots of new visitors.This may even mean having a volunteer monitor high-traffic areas (especially restrooms) throughout the day so they can keep everything clean and tidy during the pre- and post-service rush.
• Welcoming decor. The way your church is decorated influences the way people feel while they are there. You don’t need a huge budget for decorations. Fresh paint, well-chosen artwork, coordinating furniture, and green plants will go a long way toward making visitors feel at home.

6. Exceptional Childcare

A guest’s experience with your children’s ministry can make or break their first visit. Imagine how anxious parent and kids may feel about being separated when they visit a new church. Having an excellent children’s ministry can relieve their worries from the start! Here’s what you need to make sure your children’s ministry area is up to speed:

• Excellent staff and volunteers who genuinely love children. Highly motivated people dedicated to providing a safe, fun, and educational environment for the kids in their care are so important. A bright smile and calm, welcoming demeanor will do wonders for setting parents and kids at ease, especially if they are first-timers!
• Easy check-in. Make sure the process is safe and efficient, but don’t over-do it. Simple and streamlined is the goal here. Let parents know their children will be well-cared for, but that you’ll discreetly notify them during service if their child should happen to need them.
• A happy, bright space. Creating a space that invites kids to be kids is crucial! Invest in kid-friendly decorations, toys, and educational tools that will make kids want to come in and stay. If they’re begging their parents to come back next week because they had so much fun, you’re much more likely to see first-time visitors become regular attendees.
• Have a cry room. Some parents are reluctant to leave their infants and toddlers in the nursery, so provide a “cry room” or nursing mother’s room where parents can take a fussy babies during the service. Set this room up with anything a parent might need to keep themselves and their child comfortable. It helps to have a way for them to listen to (and preferably watch) the service.

7. Visitor-friendly sanctuary

Creating a sanctuary that invites visitors in is pretty straightforward:

• Don’t have large sections roped off. This might confuse visitors and make your church seem uninviting.
• Do have ushers available to guide visitors to seats if necessary. Smart ushers can even place visitors next to friendly individuals or families who will be sure to engage guests before or after the service.
• Don’t place new visitors right at the front. There’s no quicker way to make them feel like they’re under a microscope!

8. Acknowledge visitors during the service

New visitors will be paying close attention to the order of your service. It’s important to include them in ways they won’t find embarrassing. Here’s how:

• Welcome them, but don’t single them out. Simply say something like “If this is your first Sunday with us, welcome! We’re so glad you’re here!”. It’s probably best not to ask them stand up or raise their hands. Some new visitors might not mind this, but it could mortify others!
• Let your visitors know there’s a connection card in their bulletin, and tell them where to turn it in. If you want to make sure you get these back, tell them to take the card to the welcome desk after the service in exchange for a free gift.
• Don’t make the offering an obligation. When it’s time to pass the offering plates, let your guests know they’re welcome to give if they would like to, but that it’s not expected or required.
• Make sure new visitors know where to go after the service. If you offer prayer time after the service, let guests know where to go to receive it. Remind them about dropping off their visitor card at the info booth (or another designated spot). Let them know there are volunteers ready to connect with them and answer their questions!

9. Post-service connection

After giving your guests clear instructions for what to do after the service, have volunteers head out to the info booth a few minutes before the service ends. This way they can be ready and waiting to greet guests as soon as they exit the sanctuary. Here’s how you can connect with visitors:

• Have greeters available to connect with guests. They can pray with guests, answer their questions, or just chat with newcomers to get to know them. If possible, have your pastor available to greet them, too! This will make new visitors feel extra valued.
• Collect connection cards and offer guests a free gift. You should still offer a gift even if visitors don’t fill out the card. If they don’t feel ready to offer up their contact information after one visit, a no-strings-attached gift will go a long way toward making them feel like their presence is genuinely appreciated. T-shirts, books, and mugs all make great gifts.
• Inform greeters of ways new visitors can get plugged in to your church. Some first timers may not be ready to commit right away, but others might be ready to sign up for a small group, prayer breakfast, etc.

10. Follow up

Now that you’ve collected those connection cards, don’t forget to reach out! Timely contact with church visitors is key. If they took the time to fill out the card and give it back, chances are high they’ll be happy to hear from you!

Your connection cards should have a space for a visitor’s phone number and email address. It also helps to have space for them to indicate their preferred mode of contact (text, email, or phone). Here are a couple of visitor-friendly ideas to get you started:

• Same day. Send a text or email later that day thanking them for coming. It doesn’t need to be long or complicated — just let them know you’re happy they visited.
• Later that week. Send an email saying “See you Sunday!”  to show visitors you’re excited to see them again. This is a great time to mention a sermon series or fun event happening at your church. This is also when you can provide individualized information about connecting with any groups or events your guests expressed interest in.

There you have it! Taking the time to make sure church visitors feel welcome will go a long way toward making them regular attendees of your church. Start with these ten steps and build on them. You’ll be sure to create an inviting church environment that will make new visitors want to return again and again.

As you gear up to welcome visitors to your church for Back to Church Sunday and other fall events, consider how your church can greet them, and make them feel comfortable and welcome so they will want to return. 

And while we all would like to think we’re good at assimilation, it’s easy to fall back on old habits or forget that the church world can seem strange to people who didn’t grow up in the culture. So consider these 5 Visitor “Don’ts” as you plan your ministry year: 

#1 – Don’t make a spectacle out of your new guests.

Guests don’t want to stand out in the crowd so don’t make them feel awkward by putting them in the spotlight. It may seem innocent but don’t make them stand up and wave, give them a special “I’m New” name tag, or make them carry around the “secret” gift bag. 

Instead, greeters at your front door should welcome church visitors with a friendly hand shake and guide them around your building. During the message, the pastor should extend a warm welcome and invite guests to pick up a visitor gift or meet a staff member after the service ends if they have questions. Let visitors discover how friendly and warm your church is without shining a huge spotlight that will make them feel uncomfortable.

#2 –  Don’t use awkward church lingo. 

Guests to your church are already intimidated enough just walking through the doors of your church. Hearing strange Christian expressions is a sure signal that they “don’t fit in”, and often we don’t even realize the words we are using will sound strange to an outside ear. 

Think about it…for people who don’t attend church, some of the regular things that happen on Sunday are strange enough: Where else do you go, stand around and sing together for 20 minutes? Or where else will you be served tiny bits of cracker and itsy cups of juice? It all makes sense and has beauty and significance to us, but don’t add to the strangeness of it by ‘giving a praise offering’ afterward. 

Instead, try to use everyday language to talk about spiritual things, for example, encourage people to change their ways and follow God instead of “repent”. But if you do use language like “Born Again” “Lord’s Supper” and “Spiritual Gifts” be sure to explain the meanings so newcomers don’t feel confused or left out but instead, learn more about the tenets of our faith .  

#3 – Don’t Make Your Children’s Area Scary for Parents. 

Don’t decide that Back to Church Sunday is the perfect Sunday to have your cousin, who moonlights as a clown, show up as Mr. Purple Pockets and greet all of the children. 

Instead, prepare your children’s area to receive new families by keeping the area clean, and having fun, playful decorations and signs. Train your volunteers to answer hesitant parent’s fears about safety, security and allergen-free snacks. Happy children who have fun at church leads to families who attend more regularly.

#4 – Don’t launch a capital campaign or hard sell the offering. 

A lot of unchurched people think that churches just want money from their members. When you know you are having a lot of visitors, don’t reinforce that stereotype by taking more than one offering or lecturing on the spiritual gift of poverty. 

Instead, talk about the gifts God has given us and then emulate Him by blessing your visitors with a free gift book, coupons to a local restaurant or coffee shop, or an invitation to an upcoming lunch or event with the staff where they can find out more about your ministries. 

#5 – Don’t bore your visitors. 

Back to Church Sunday is not a good day to launch a new sermon series on the Levitical Laws of Ancient Israel (or show endless slides of Elder Bob’s latest trip to the Holy Land).  Instead begin a series that talks about the beauty and power of coming together as a community in Christ. Try to send visitors home with relevant truths that can help them in the week ahead and then be sure to invite visitors to the following week’s sermon to learn more. 

Bonus Tip – Ditch the sock puppets and flannel graphs and anything else that says your church is lost in the 1990’s – instead show compelling videos that will grab and keep your audience’s attention. 

It’s probably not a surprise that recent surveys and studies show that secularism is on the rise and church attendance is on the decline.  But what may come as a surprise is that in our digitally-connected society, recent studies show that “social media” can be anything but social – in fact it may be leading to increased isolation and loneliness. 

The people in your community are not exceptions to this phenomenon. So how do you reach a digital generation and show them that God’s plan is for people to be in fellowship and living in a faith community together? It just might take getting out of the church and out onto the streets of your neighborhood to meet, pray for, serve and invite. 

1) Meet people where they are

As a church leader you want people to come to your church, but in a society that was not raised on weekly church attendance, going to church is a foreign concept that may seem like more trouble than it’s worth. So instead of spending resources to get people to come in, you may have more success when you go out – build relationships and demonstrate God’s love before you invite people into your church.  

Ideas to get started: 

• Make yourself a regular at a local spot. Study, write and answer emails from a coffee shop or diner. As you build relationships with the staff and other regulars you may just be able to have deeper conversations. Plus you will hear the concerns, stresses and struggles that are key to your community.
• Get involved with local sports teams. This is an easy task If you have kids – and really something that you can encourage every parent in your church to mimic. Attend practices and games, talk to the other parents, make friends, learn about their lives and then invite them (or the kids) to church activities. 

But even if your members are past the “soccer mom” stage, supporting the local High School or college football and basketball teams are still great ways to meet people, support the youth in your church and connect with other fans.

Another sports related option is to put together a team from your church to play in a local sports league – just make sure all your players are good sports and can honor and represent God well even in the heat of competition! 

2) Become a Third Space. 

Often church buildings are not fully utilized during business hours or during the evenings. By opening your building up to other organizations for meetings or as a location for classes, you are providing a new avenue for people to get more familiar with your facility and staff. You may even want to think about working with local organizations to house an after school program or a senior citizen’s activity space. 

3) Pray for Your Community 

You probably already do this instinctively but what about intentionally and corporately? We all know that prayer is powerful and we are even commanded to pray for our leaders. But what if you planned and executed a more purposeful prayer plan with your congregation, such as sending out small teams to walk through a neighborhood and systematically praying for each household? While that may sound like a big assignment, “Prayer Walking” can be a great way to not only cover your community with God’s power but also to strengthen the faith of your members. 

So what is a Prayer Walk? It is physically walking “onsite” and praying at the places you are trying to reach and change. Take a walk in the neighborhood around your house or church and stop for a moment at each home; ask God to meet that family’s needs, to bring them into relationship with him, and to enable you and your church to be a conduit to show them the love and forgiveness of Jesus. 

Want to go even bigger, and organize all of your church’s prayer walkers? Well, it’s not hard now with a new app from Every Home for Christ (EHC). “Encounter Outreach” is a free mapping tool that helps mobilize the Church to reach their neighborhoods and cities with the Good News.  Churches can organize multiple-group outreach initiatives and then view and track the collective stats – giving them a complete picture of the areas that have been reached as well as those that need additional attention. The app even lets users create a list of people they want to pray for and a list to follow up with. 

Plus Outreach and EHC have partnered to give Churches FREE evangelism tools called Engagers that can be left at every home to start the conversation. The back of the Engager includes room for your church info so recipients can visit and learn more about Jesus. It’s a simple and powerful way to impact your community! 

4) Serve 

The saying “People don’t care what you know until they know you care” is really true; actions do speak louder than words. A good question to ask is what is your church doing to make a difference in the community? And the answers don’t have to be huge, complicated strategies that require a big budget, they can be as simple as recruiting a team of volunteers to help serve meals for the Salvation Army or local food kitchen, collecting supplies for a local food pantry, or organizing a backpack give away for a low income area. 

One suburban church started delivering hot coffee and donuts to morning commuters at the train station one day a week and then serving hot cup of soup in the evenings. They were able to share God’s love to commuters, vacationers and the homeless population. Paired with other service activities, their church became known in the community as a church that cared and was willing to help others. What a great reputation to cultivate!

5) Invite 

This one seems pretty obvious but being clear that your church wants new people to visit is a key step in evangelism. People are not familiar with church or Christianity may view church services more like a club meeting and may not realize that they are welcome to stop in any Sunday for service.

And offering multiple types of invitations multiple times is important – studies show that it takes up to 7 impressions before someone acts on an ‘ad’ and really a church invitation is just that. So take advantage of all the options open to your church including: Direct mail, personal invites, social media advertisements and events, doorhangers and outdoor banners. 

Every Home for Christ’s website says this: “ONE ENCOUNTER WITH GOD – that’s all it takes to shake up and transform a person’s life. It gives hope to the hopeless, restoration to the broken, and healing to the hurting. It isn’t complex and doesn’t need to be elaborate. A simple word, gentle action, honest story or humble prayer has the ability to lead people to an encounter with God that changes everything. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been given the honor of playing a pivotal role in sharing the Good News with the world, inviting others to experience the saving love of God. When we intentionally interact with the people around us, we see amazing things happen!”

So make a commitment this ministry season to encourage your members and staff to get out into the community, meeting new people, listening to their stories, praying and serving needs and ultimately inviting them to meet Jesus. It’s time to hit the streets.

Every church is the local expression of the Body of Christ.  As such, every church has the capacity to passionately address the issues of brokenness and loneliness that pervade our society.  The Church, as messy as it might be, is a beautiful place where people can come together to find wholeness, friendship, healing, forgiveness, guidance and love through Jesus and His people.  National Back to Church Sunday is celebrating this beauty with our 2019 theme, Together. 

In Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus we see this “together” theme emphasized again and again. In Ephesians 2 we are encouraged by the declaration that “together, we are His house.” Paul prays in Ephesians 3 that “together with all the Lord’s holy people” we could “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” In Ephesians 4 we see how we grow in strength together as Jesus “makes the whole body fit together perfectly.”  A powerful picture is painted for us in Ephesians 5, showing that together we can truly make a difference as we “live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.” We come together in Christ as the Church, and that makes all the difference for each and every person that steps through the doors of your local church, finding a place they can call their own with a family that reminds them they are not alone.

We have been praying for every local church because we believe that, together, we can see an incredible harvest this fall through National Back to Church Sunday. Your church has the opportunity to join God in the work He is already doing in your neighborhood. We want to partner with your church to help you experience revitalization and growth as you mobilize your people to invite their friends to hear the life-transforming message of Jesus and experience the love and support of your church.  

Did you realize that, on average, churches that participate experience a 27% increase in attendance on National Back to Church Sunday?  This is incredibly significant. This means more of your people are having conversations with friends, neighbors and co-workers and inviting them to church where they can hear a clear presentation of the Gospel. This means people, many for the very first time, are being introduced to Jesus!  We have heard story after story of how celebrating National Back to Church Sunday has reinvigorated churches as pastors and lay people alike are encouraged by what God can do through their local church.

We would love to have your church join us as, together, we reach those who are far from God.  Here are three simple steps you can take now to begin preparing your church to engage your community for National Back to Church Sunday:

1. Add your church to the map of participating churches – this allows visitors to find your church on FindaChurchnow.com and allows other ministry leaders know that you are participating. 
2. Download the free resources we have to help your church impact your community and start planning your National Back to Church celebration, including the free full-color printed Engager invitations
3. Challenge your people to pray about who God is leading them to invite and then take action and make that invitation
4. Join the Back To Church Facebook group to share ideas and find inspiration from other pastors who have joined the movement.

Let’s rally together for Jesus and extend his hope and truth to our communities!