How To Create a Lasting First Impression
If you were to walk into a church for the first time, what are things you would notice? I’m convinced everyone pays attention to different details. My husband pays attention to the sound and lighting right away, that is his field of expertise so to him, this details stand out immediately. As a mom of two, I make sure I know where the bathroom is and where to go for a coffee refill. First impressions matter when you are welcoming new families and as staff members, it is so easy to forget what it feels like to walk into a new church for the first time. Here are six things to make your first impression lasts way past Sunday morning.
Online presence: This may sound silly, but how people experience your church prior to even stepping foot in your building is important. Whether it is a social media account or a website, it needs to have the correct information and helpful information. What is on your website? It is easy to navigate? Are your service times and church address accurate? Is there information for parents on what time check-in begins, how it works, what age groups are available and what policies are in place. They say Sunday morning church is a Saturday night decision so having an updated and easy to navigate website will give families the confidence to come and visit.
Clear Signage: Make sure you have clear signage. Clear signage even starts outside of the building. To guide people through the parking lot and lead them to the front entrance. When families walk in, do they see a sign for kids check-in? Do they know where to take their kids? When we walked into our new home church for the first time, it was so overwhelming. We went two the second service so there was a sea of people leaving and entering the building. It took me a few seconds to find the “Kids Check-In” sign, but once I did, I breathed a sign of relief. I knew exactly where to go.
New Family Check-In: Create a designated iPad or computer for new families to use. Checking in for the first time can often take longer and to be in the sea of families who know how it works can be intimidating.
Check-in Volunteers: In addition to having a designated spot for new families to check-in, having a volunteer walk them through the process is a step up. Those check-in platforms can be confusing and it is easy to make a mistake and set the kids as adults and adults as kids. In order to get a new family checked in the right way and answer any questions in the meantime, get a team of check-in volunteers ready to welcome families and walk them through the check-in process. For many families, the check-in volunteer is the first person they will meet, so it is important that they are welcoming and can easily carry on a conversation. A check-in volunteer should not only engage the parents, but it’s important to talk to the kids. Ask their name, how old they are and what grade they are in. Asking those simple questions helps kids feel like they matter.
Connect the Dots: Once new families get their check-in tags, have your volunteers walk them to their classrooms. Don’t send them off by themselves. Walk them to their next destination, introduce them to the classroom volunteers and make sure they know how to get back to the main service. I call this connecting the dots. New families don’t know the layout of our building so have someone show them. Don’t forget to tell them where to get coffee and where they will go to pick up their kids.
Going the Extra Mile: So you welcomed your new families, you make sure they were all set in their classrooms, now what? The hard part is over, but what about the follow up or ways to go the extra mile to make a family feel welcome. Below are a handful of things that I have experienced that made a lasting impression.
First time sticker: When we visited our home church for the first time, my daughter, who was 3 at the time, was living her best life after she received a “first time” sticker. She wore it all day and told everyone about it. I loved seeing her so excited to be a first time guest. At one church, we gave out branded bracelets and those were a HIT with the elementary age kids and they tend to last a little longer than a sticker.
Welcome bags. This is an easy win. Welcome bags can be filled with information about your church and upcoming events, special church swag, or something sweet. My daughter still drinks out of the cup she got on her first Sunday. If you have a local coffee shop or ice cream shop, see if they can give you coupons to give new families, especially those who are new to the area. It is a fun way to support your community and give families something fun to do together.
A simple, “thanks for visiting” on their way out. If you are a church staff member, you may have a team of people helping families check-in and that is so great, but most of the time those volunteers aren’t around at the end of service. Try and make it a point to check-in with the families during check-out. Ask the kids how church was or tell the parents that their toddler did a great job playing during service. Checking in, introducing yourself and saying “thanks for coming” is a simple yet impactful way to make families feel known and loved.
Follow up. This can be an e-mail, but e-mails tend to get lost in the shuffle really easily. If you collect addresses, send a postcard that following week. I would always send these to the kids specifically because kids love getting mail and you can easily personalize it by having a volunteer write it or mention something specific about their time together. Use postcards to invite them back. Postcards are also a great way to tell families what you are learning about next week or about an event coming up.
We do all this not to just raise attendance numbers but we do this so people will feel welcomed and loved within a community of God’s people. It’s true that we don’t know a families story when they walk into our building. They may know nothing about Jesus and because of your smiling face or the authenticity of our volunteers, they feel loved enough to come back and find out more. Ministry is all about meeting people where they are at and inviting them to participate in the Gospel story. Taking the time to intentionally think about and put into action a comprehensive family welcome plan is the first step.
Where to start: If you don’t have the budget for new signage or are in a temporary space, leverage your volunteers. Give your most welcoming volunteers bright colored lanyards and station them at the doors to welcome families and point them or walk them to check-in. If you are short on volunteers, train the welcome or hospitality team to keep an eye out for families and teach them the check-in process in case families show up late or your other volunteers are busy. Get everyone involved!