The site to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ
Archive for the ‘First Impressions & Beyond’ Category
Church Shopping: How Can We Better Welcome Guests?
Secret shoppers visit stores to offer an unbiased critique of the customer experience. Churches need the same insight and Greg Atkinson offers just that.
Secrets of a Secret Shopper: Reaching and Keeping Church Guests
Greg Atkinson, a secret shopper for churches, helps church communicators understand how the welcome experience attracts or repels guests in his book Secrets of a Secret Shopper.
3 Ways Church Communicators Can Deal With Politics
Churches have a responsibility to confront politics, even if it's uncomfortable. Here are three ways communicators can approach it without creating trouble.
Church Communication Blind Spots
When we get stuck in our heads, we develop blind spots about welcoming church members and guests. I learned this lesson when thinking about our church's proximity to public transit.
Welcoming Children to Church
Not every church has the budget for a massive children's ministry, so how do we avoid banishing them and instead welcome children into our worship services?
#11: Quit Caring About a Dress Code
Your Sunday best is a cultural tradition, not a biblical mandate. When churches strive to be respectable, they’re kind of missing the point.
#5: Quit Saying You Welcome Everyone When You Don’t
In too many of our churches, we’re fooling ourselves into thinking we are welcoming when we really aren’t. It's time to quit.
Church Bulletin Do’s and Don’ts: A Visitor’s Perspective
A church bulletin user offers bulletin tips from a user's perspective. What should be on the cover? How much info inside? Should you use pictures?
The Church Is Not Respectable
When churches strive to be respectable, they're kind of missing the point. Jesus didn't worry about dress codes or cultural norms of respectability.
Church Bulletin: Don’t Kill It, Make It Better
While digital communication is a must for churches, eliminating bulletins doesn’t solve the challenge of communicating in the 21st Century.
Connecting With Visitors at the Virtual Fireplace
One church implements a virtual check-in for visitors using texting technology to make it easier for visitors to connect and get questions answered.
By the Numbers: Guests, Attendance and the Back Door
Statistics show we're losing visitors quickly. Is your church doing its best to invite, interact with, follow up and retain the new people who walk in?
Church Visitor Horror Stories: Lost Generation
If you're not willing to extend God's peace, then take down your cross and be the social club you apparently are. Now you're creating a lost generation.
Church Visitor Horror Stories: Children’s Ministry Fail
Lurking in the back of every parent's mind is the history of child abuse cases in the church. Lack of parental reassurance? Children's ministry fail.
Church Visitor Horror Stories: Wrong Time
Listing the wrong time on your website is a rookie mistake. Ignoring those early arriving visitors is, sadly, a veteran move.
