Have you ever sat down and thought through what you expect of your church members?

For the sake of today’s post, I don’t necessarily mean the “biggies” (like attending, serving, giving, etc.), although those are vital.  Hopefully you are presenting those expectations clearly during Membership Class and reminding members of their responsibilities regularly.

Today, I mean the “little things” that make a big difference in the culture of your church…

To illustrate what I mean, I’d like to share a handy (and powerful) document from EastLake Church in Chula Vista, California.  Their Lead Pastor (Mike Meeks) is one of my Coaching Alumni and his team is currently in my Assimilation Coaching Network.  They offered to let me share this letter with you today.

It’s a letter they send to New Members about two weeks after they sign the Membership Agreement:

Greetings!

What a great season this is at EastLake Church!  Each week I see Jesus working in so many lives, connecting us in friendships and revealing God’s purpose for us as individuals and as a church.

I want to say thank you for joining us two weeks ago for our “Discovering Membership” seminar.  Way to go on jumping in with both feet!  We appreciate your commitment to our membership team as we all work together to help people find and follow Jesus in San Diego County.

If you were not already serving on one of our ministry teams, I trust you have already been contacted by a representative of a ministry you signed up for.  If not, please let us know and we will make sure that a connection happens.

As a member, we would ask you to join the rest of us in our weekly “secret” duties of membership:

• Fill out a Connection Card every week – This makes it easier for our guests to feel comfortable and trust us with their information.
• Sit in the Center Section (the closer, the better) – Again, thinking about our guests, this leaves room on the wings, aisle and towards the back.
• Show up on time – This sets a great tone in the service right at the beginning as we celebrate the Lord together in worship.

I know for many of you, you’re thinking… “This goes against everything I like to do — roll in late, sit on an aisle, and rebel against the stupid card.” That’s what I would naturally think!  But remember it’s not just about you or me!  It’s about helping people find and follow Jesus.  And believe it or not, those three little things help our guests dramatically.

Thanks, again, for joining the EastLake Team.  We know God is going to continue working in your life and using you to impact others.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”  ~1 Cor 12:27

Blessings,

Pastor Name

Thanks to Mike and the entire EastLake staff!

I love the lighthearted tone of this letter, but the clear expectations that it lays out.

These aren’t BIG THINGS, but they are the Little Things that, over time, come to define your church’s culture – and make your church as welcoming as possible to new people.

So how about you… What do you expect of your church members?  Do they know that?

P.S.  For a comprehensive resource that contains everything you need to plan, prepare for, execute and follow up on a Membership Class at your church, check out The Maximizing Membership Package (available for Immediate Download).

For all of you who have read my book Fusion or listened to The Assimilation Seminar, you know that part of the Assimilation System that I teach is emailing out a brief online survey to every First Time Guest that attends The Journey.

There are a couple of reasons behind this survey: 1) To get an idea of their first impressions and genuinely assess how we’re doing as much as possible, and 2) To reinforce the positive experience they had and hopefully prompt them to come again.

Now, not everyone is willing to respond to a survey, but when they do it often says a lot about how we’re doing as a church.

Today I wanted to share a big win for our team at The Journey… here’s a survey response we received from First Time Guest last week:

What did you notice first?

I noticed smiling faces everywhere, how organized everything was (literature, tables, etc.), and a joyful spirit in everyone I saw or spoke to. For me, it can be a little intimidating as a first time in a new church. I like it to be more of a personal process and just get a ‘feel’ for it. Some churches, with all the best intentions, can be overpowering with things like ‘receiving lines’ at the front door, name tags, escorts to a seat, asked that first timers stand up, etc. When I entered The Journey on Sunday, I didn’t feel descended upon, just welcomed.

What Did You Like Best?

I loved the great music that lead off the service – very engaging. I especially liked that the service seemed designed to be interactive (connection card, worksheet), was relative to daily life, didn’t have a judgmental tone, and wasn’t preachy.

Overall Impression?

The Journey has a wonderful atmosphere. Several times I looked around at the members and was really pleased to see that people were attentive, engaged, and just plain smiling a lot. That doesn’t happen by accident.

Wow! That’s a great response – I was able to share this with our team to celebrate the win, PLUS just the very act of completing this survey served to reinforce the positive experience that this person had in their first visit to The Journey.

How do you solicit feedback from your newcomers? What can you start doing this weekend to find out what they’re experiencing at your church?

P.S. For a step-by-step process to help First Time Guests become Fully Committed Members of your church, check out The Assimilation Seminar.

This three hour seminar has helped thousands of churches just like yours do a better job of integrating new people into the life of their church – why not you?

Click here to read more and secure your copy of The Assimilation Seminar.

Welcoming new people to your church is one of the pillars of a solid Assimilation System (not to mention a demonstration of Christian hospitality).

But whether we like it or not, many of the people greeting newcomers at our churches aren’t sure how to make others feel welcome.

First impressions are so important that I recommend having a brief training for all of your greeters every Sunday (yes every Sunday).

Recently, I ran across a good article about this from my friend Hal Seed - he asks his people to “LINE-UP” and welcome new people every weekend:

Making Newcomers Feel Welcome

How much time does it take for a visitor to decide whether or not they will return to your church? Experts pose differing numbers on this. Some say as quickly as 90 seconds. Others say three minutes. Still others say they take as long as 12 minutes to decide. Whoever is right, making a good first impression is imperative if you are going to retain first time visitors. Doing this well will change as your church grows.

Churches with attendance under 150 can make a friendly first impression by stationing two or three outgoing volunteers at their front doors. In this size church, newcomers are able to look around the crowd and find the “people like me” pretty quickly. “People like me,” is key to assimilating newcomers in smaller churches.

Once you get to 200 or more, the number of names and faces is large enough that you’ll an exceptionally committed volunteer to be at the door at least 45 weekends a year. Since the average Sunday school teacher only attends church 39 weeks a year, you probably won’t find such a person. Hence, a staff member needs to assume this responsibility. When our church was under 400, my associate pastor met every first time visitor and introduced them to others. If you ask anyone who came during that era, “Who did you meet first?” there answer was always, “Scott Evans.”

Above 400, first impressions must be everyone’s responsibility. The average church welcomes three visitors per week for every 100 attendees. So at 400, you’ll have 12 or more brand new guests each weekend. No one person can meet and introduce them all to someone like them. Welcoming becomes a family affair.

At New Song, I ask our Core to “LINE-UP” every weekend.

L = Look for someone you don’t know.

I = Introduce yourself.

N = Never sit alone.

E = Engage in conversation after the service.

U = Use the RU New Café (our monthly lunch for newcomers).

P = Practice the 3/10 Rule (talk to 3 people you don’t know during the first 10 minutes after the service).

LINE-UP has made us one of the friendliest churches in the world. And it’s scalable, so it ought to work for yours too. Embed the process in your people by teaching it at leadership meetings, new members’ classes, and at least annually in church.

Great stuff Hal – keep up the good work.

How do you teach your people to welcome newcomers?

What can you do this week to help your church become even friendlier than last Sunday?

P.S. To learn the in’s and out’s (and all the details) of fine-tuning your church’s Assimilation System, check out The Assimilation Intensive.

First impressions make all the difference in the world when you’re trying to reach unchurched people.

And one of the most often-overlooked areas of first impression is the person answering your church’s phone.

I recently ran across a great article on this very subject from Kerry Mackey over at Street to the Seat and thought I’d share it today:

And great thoughts they are, Kerry – thanks for the reminder!

One final question/suggestion before I go….

When was the last time you “randomly” called your church office (or had a friend do so) to evaluate how well you’re doing at phone first impressions?

P.S. For more tips on honoring God by how you’re greeting, directing, treating and seating new people, check out The Assimilation Seminar.

I received an email recently from Jeff Rogers, a member of my Tele-Coaching Network and Pastor of Canastota (NY) Church of the Nazarene.

He took the time to share some great news about their Assimilation System -

In just a few months, they’ve increased their Retention Rate (the number of guests they keep) from 1 out of 16 to an incredible 1 out of 3!

That’s amazing!

I’ve seen at The Journey, in Coaching and in thousands of churches that improving your Assimilation System is the fastest way to grow your church.

So I asked Jeff to share a couple of the biggest changes they made to see such a dramatic improvement in their Assimilation.  Here’s what he had to say:

1. We use a connection card every Sunday and the information on the card serves as a point of contact for all follow-up.  I ask all visitors to kindly complete it and drop it in the offering plate which is handed around later in the service.  Most people are willing to do this.
2. The other big component is that I have coached a team of people to assist me in the assimilation process.  Each person is clear about their role.  We adhere very closely to the process we have established. In addition, I share with them news about the people getting connected, especially the feedback (mostly positive) visitors provide to encourage them.

This is a great example of how just a few tweaks to how you interact with and follow up with guests can have a tremendous impact on how many of them will actively plug into your church.

Keep up the great work Jeff!

P.S. If you’re ready to grow your church by keeping more of the guests that God is sending your way, check out my bestselling resource, “The Assimilation Seminar” – Click Here to read more or to secure your copy now.

One of the hot topics from Tuesday’s Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church Webinar with Steve Stroope was his clear and concise explanation of the commitments of being a member at his church, as they describe in their New Members Class (click here if you’re looking for help developing your own Membership Class).

When you join Lake Pointe Church, there are 5 things that are expected of you:

1. Feed Yourself - Have a regular daily devotional (and we’ll teach you how to do that).
2. Share Your Faith - As long as you’re a member, you’ll have at least 3 people that you’re praying for, seeking to witness to and seeking to invite to church with you.
3. Give Small Groups a Try - Get in a small group for at least 6 weeks because we believe that you need to be in the context of relationships to grow spiritually.
4. Serve Somewhere in the Church – As long as you’re a member, you’ll plug in and serve in some capacity.
5. Give Financially – To become a member, you have to commit to all five of these commitments.

So, here are a few questions for you to wrestle with today:

• What do you ask of your church members?
• What’s expected of a member at [fill in the name of your] Church?
• How do you clearly communicate that to them when they join and remind them of these commitments?
• When was the last time you taught on the value of church membership and invited people to “join the team”?

P.S. For more great insights from Steve Stroope, check out the full, three-hour seminar “Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church,” available as a 3-CD Set or for Immediate Download.  Click here to read more or secure your copy now.

P.P.S. For everything you need to begin offering your own Membership Class, check out “The Maximizing Membership Package” – it’s a fully downloadable kit that contains everything you need to move people into membership at your church. Click here to read more or secure your copy now.

Today I’m answering another one of the most common questions from last week’s Fusion Webinar.

This is a great time to make changes to your church’s Assimilation System, just in time to follow up on all of your Easter guests.

Here’s today’s question:

Q: Why do you receive the offering at the end of the service?

A: I think I touched on this one in the webinar, but we get this question a lot.  The primary motivator for receiving the offering at the end of the service (after the message) has more to do with Assimilation than it does with Stewardship.

The percentage of people who complete and turn in Connection Cards is dramatically increased when they’re collected at the same time as the offering.

Keep in mind that in addition to the vital contact information on the front, each week’s Connection Card contains “Next Steps” that connect with the day’s message and a place to share prayer requests.

These Next Steps and Prayer Requests don’t get filled out until during the message, so we don’t want to collect them until the end of the service.

For more information on how preaching for next steps ties in with the other elements of worship, check out this post that Coaching Alumni Travis Johnson wrote for me a while back.

I hope that helps!

Easter is only 11 days away – is your church ready to welcome the first time guests that are coming your way?

P.S. For the most advanced Assimilation training available, consider immediately downloading The Assimilation Intensive.

I’m answering another one of the most common questions today from last week’s Fusion Webinar.

Now is one of the most fruitful times of the year to tweak  your church’s Assimilation System - to connect all of your upcoming Easter guests to your church in the coming weeks and months.

Here’s today’s question:

Q: What’s the difference between using your style of connection card and the perforated, “tear-off” communication cards?

A: I discourage the use of the perforated cards, and here are a few of the reasons why:

1. They’re entirely too small for people to comfortably fill them out – especially the physical and email address sections
2. They are typically printing on very lightweight paper that’s hard to complete in one’s lap during the service
3. It’s tough to cleanly tear out the card without ripping it

Each of these issues may sound petty, but any one of them provide an excuse for a first time guest at your church to stop filling in their information (and if you don’t have their contact information, you can’t follow up with them)..

Easter is only 12 days away – are you prepared to be a good steward of the first time guests (gifts) that God sends to your church?

P.S. If you’re looking for a primer to improve your church’s Assimilation, you can immediately download The Assimilation Seminar.

I want to thank all of you who joined me for The Fusion Webinar on Tuesday.

We had a great turnout and it was a privilege to teach so many of you the Assimilation principles that have helped thousands of churches over the last few years.

You sent in a number of questions after the webinar, and I wanted to take a moment today and next week to answer a few of the more common questions:

Q: When you say “I send every first time guest a handwritten note,” do you seriously mean you write each note personally, or does your team handle this and sign your name?

A: Great question.  It is greatly beneficial for the lead pastor (or whichever pastor taught that week) to hold those cards each week, to read the names of the first time guests and pray for them by name.

However, I must say that with 70+ first-time guests each week at The Journey, I have had to back off on writing each and every note myself.  I have a team that helps me complete them these days, but I still make it a point to write a few of them personally and pray over all the names each week.

Whether you were on The Fusion Webinar this week or not, let me encourage you to take some time today (and over the next couple of weeks) to tweak and improve your church’s Assimilation System.

Easter is only 18 days away and God will likely trust you with more First Time Guests that day than any other day this year.

Be sure that you’re doing everything you possibly can to prove faithful!

P.S. If you’re looking for the ultimate Assimilation training (far beyond the basics), check out The Assimilation Intensive Workshop.

Just a quick reminder that The Fusion Webinar is TOMORROW at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

Space is limited by our webinar provider for this webinar, but we do have a few spots still available – however, you need to Register Now.

If you can make the time to join me for this webinar, you’ll learn the principles you need to turn your Easter first-time guests into second-time guests and ultimately into fully committed members of your church.

In addition, just for being a part of the webinar you’re going to receive more than $125.00 in Bonus Resources (that’s more than three times your “per church” registration investment).

I am pumped about this webinar because I love hearing all the stories about how God uses the Fusion principles to help churches keep more guests!

So, will you join me?

Here’s the link for more info and to register now:

The Fusion Webinar – Tuesday, March 16
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm (Eastern)
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm (Central)
11:00 am – 1:00 pm (Mountain)
10:00 am – 12:00 pm (Pacific)