GREETING, CHURCH WELCOME, NEW MEMBERS
Part of LifeandLeadership.com resources for church leaders
- Introduction
- First Reads on Church Greeting, Church Welcome, and New Members
- Other Helpful Ministry Resources on Church Greeting, Church Welcome, and New Members
- Ministry Resources on Hospitality
- Related Ministry Resources
Introduction
Most established churches, new plants, and other missional communities have ongoing concerns about how best to welcome those who visit their assemblies. There is the additional concern of helping interested persons become an accepted part of the church family, grow in their disciplined commitment to God’s will for their lives, and work cooperatively with the body of Christ in ministry.
Most materials on this subject are written out of a church growth/attractional philosophy which is considerably more aggressive and uses corporate language such as “assimilation.” Some of the missional perspective hear this language as cold and mechanistic. And while they may be less focused on inviting people to services and making impressions, they are equally concerned about welcoming and removing barriers through a spirit of hospitality. Many of the resources below may be usefully adapted to either orientation.
Welcoming and New Member Integration is closely related to other Ministry Resource Guides on Exercising Spiritual Gifts in Church Ministry, Managing Volunteers, Ministry Teams, and Spiritual Gifts.
Follow the links to the ministry resources below for more detailed summaries. See also the list at the bottom of the page referencing related ministry resources.
First Reads on Church Greeting, Church Welcoming, and New Members
- Nelson Searcy and Jennifer Dykes Henson, Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church – Presents an integrated process of four stages: first-time guest, second-time guest, regular attender, and member.
- Mark L. Waltz — Three books describe his approach based on the work at Granger Community Church. The first is First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences in Your Church. The second is Lasting Impressions: From Visiting to Belonging. The third is How to Wow Your Church Guests: 101 Ways to Make a Meaningful First Impression.
Other Helpful Ministry Resources on Church Greeting, Church Welcoming, and New Members
- Chuck Lawless, Membership Matters: Insights from Effective Churches on New Member Classes and Assimilation — The most comprehensive discussion of best practices relative to new member classes based on research of over fifty effective evangelistic churches.
- Gary L. McIntosh, Beyond the First Visit: The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church —A thorough, detailed process on how to “guesterize” one’s church, helping the church respond warmly to its guests and attract new ones.
- Gary McIntosh and Glen Martin, Finding Them, Keeping Them: Effective Strategies for Evangelism and Assimilation in the Local Church – A good conceptualization of five simple strategies for finding people (evangelism) and keeping people (assimilation).
- Thom S. Rainer, High Expectations: The Remarkable Secret for Keeping People in Your Church – Based on a study of 287 churches revealing a strong correlation between high expectations closing the back door.
Ministry Resources on Hospitality
There is a growing interest among Christian communities to recover the biblical teaching on hospitality. This is a helpful study for both Greeting/Church Welcome as well as Evangelism. Below is a first of several resources to be listed in this section.
- Henry Brinton, The Welcoming Congregation: Roots and Fruits of Christian Hospitality — A good resource on practical and creative ways to express hospitality, including the author’s studies on exemplary congregations in the U.S. and abroad.
Related Ministry Resources
See Other Resources on Ministry Involvement:
- Spiritual Gifts in Church Ministry, Involvement
- Managing Volunteers
- Congregational Ministry Teams
- Spiritual Gifts
See Resources on Over 100 Areas of Christian Ministry: