{"id":3822,"date":"2015-07-29T05:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomrainer.com\/?p=3822"},"modified":"2020-02-07T15:17:19","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T21:17:19","slug":"five-keys-to-an-incredible-greeters-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/five-keys-to-an-incredible-greeters-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Keys to an Incredible Greeters\u2019 Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the one thing all churches can do to reach more people, but it\u2019s one thing most churches give little attention.<\/p>\n

Most churches can take five simple steps to create and\/or improve their greeters\u2019 ministry and potentially see dramatic results. Let me give you a simple example of the potential impact.<\/p>\n

A church of 200 in worship attendance may get 150 first-time guests in a year. Can you imagine the transformation that would take place if one-half of those guests connected with the church and became a part of the congregation? The church of 200 in attendance would become a church of 275 in attendance \u2013 in one year!<\/p>\n

In our surveys of first-time guests, we hear repeatedly that one of the keys that caused them to return was a friendly first impression. Like it or not, it\u2019s often a make or break issue for the guest.<\/p>\n

So how can you be certain that your greeters are doing everything possible to provide an incredible first-time impression? Here are five \u201cbest practices\u201d where churches have dynamic greeter ministries, and where the return rate of guests is high.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Train your greeters. <\/strong>Most church greeters have had no training, and it is often painfully obvious. The simple process of training makes a dramatic difference in this ministry. Here is a link to the training we provide\u00a0at LifeWay<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Create alternating teams of greeters. <\/strong>I recommend greeters serve in their place of ministry every other month. The rotation helps them keep a fresh perspective and avoid burnout. Of course, a greeter in the \u201coff\u201d cycle can fill in for another greeter when needed.<\/li>\n
  3. Treat the ministry as a major ministry of the church.<\/strong> In some churches, the greeters\u2019 ministry has second-class status. Those churches that are highly effective in retaining first-time guests understand the importance of this ministry. The leaders recruit highly-competent and highly-motivated church members for it.<\/li>\n
  4. Make visits to other churches a regular part of the greeters\u2019 training.<\/strong> I recommend greeters attend a different church about once a quarter. They should write down their experiences, good and bad, to share with others in the greeters\u2019 ministry.<\/li>\n
  5. Have quarterly greeters\u2019 meetings.<\/strong> The primary purpose of this meeting is to hear about the visits to other churches. It is not a meeting just for the sake of meeting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I am asked regularly about the most effective ways to reach people in churches. Most churches have not made a significant commitment in training and resourcing greeters. That one simple but significant step could make a huge difference in the numbers reached for the gospel each year.<\/p>\n

    Share with me what you have learned about greeters\u2019 ministries, good or bad. What do you think of the five keys I named? What would you add?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having effective greeters is the one thing all churches can do to reach more people, but it\u2019s one thing most churches give little attention.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,179,175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-first-impressions","category-grow"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFive Keys to an Incredible Greeters\u2019 Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Having effective greeters is the one thing all churches can do to reach more people, but it\u2019s one thing most churches give little attention.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/five-keys-to-an-incredible-greeters-ministry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Keys to an Incredible Greeters\u2019 Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Having effective greeters is the one thing all churches can do to reach more people, but it\u2019s one thing most churches give little attention.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/five-keys-to-an-incredible-greeters-ministry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-29T10:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T21:17:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Five-Keys-to-an-Incredible-Greeters\u2019-Ministry.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"503\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thom S. 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