Do Visitors Leave Your Church With A Good Impression?

Valerie Johnson — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:23:09 +0000

When visitors come to your church, what do they see? What are their first and last impressions? What do you do that leaves a lasting impression? People look for different things when shopping for a church. Some of the things people look for are programs, leadership, doctrinal issues or a good choir. Some are just looking for convenience. Whatever they are looking for, they have to get past their initial impression of your ministry.

Location, Location, Location

Is your church located on a main road or is it hidden down back roads and side streets. If your church is not on a main road, how do visitors find your church? Do you have directional signs off the main road to lead people to your church. Is there a street sign for your street. Once people get on the right street do you have visible signage with the name and address of the church? If your church is hard to find your visitors may be frustrated by the time they arrive at the church. Or, they may just go to another church instead.

Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is not just for selling your home. How does your property look from the street? Is your lawn cut and shrubs trimmed? If your property is landscaped, have flower beds been weeded and dead plants pulled? Does the property look clean and neat from the street? Does your church need to be painted or power washed? Is the sign for your church in good condition or are there letters and numbers missing?

Parking Lot

Is your parking lot easy to navigate with obvious entrance and exit? Are parking spaces marked or lined? Do you have handicapped parking spaces that will accommodate wheel chairs and walkers? What do you have in place to help people park once the lot is full?

Bathrooms

Bathrooms get a lot of traffic, especially from parents with young children. Are your bathrooms easy to find with adequate signage? Is the bathroom neat and clean? Does it smell fresh? Is it adequately supplied with bathroom tissue, soap and paper towels?

The Worship Experience

Now that we are inside the church, let’s take a look the people and the worship experience.

Greeters and Ushers: Are your greeters and ushers friendly people with a genuine, ready smile?

Nursery/Cry Room: Does your church have a nursery or cry room for babies and toddlers?

Programs/Order of Service: Does your program help visitors understand what is going on and what to do?

Members: Are your members friendly?

Music: Does your music appeal to all age groups?

Seekers: What do you have in place for the unsaved/unchurched?

Sermons: How long are your sermons?

Service: How long is your service from start to finish?

Visitors: Do you offer hospitality to your visitors outside of the worship service?

These are just some of the things your church or ministry may want to pay attention to as it pertains to visitors. There are so many things that visitors check out when they are looking for a church home. Many of the things that are mentioned here are things that we don’t really pay attention to in our own churches because we have become accustomed to them.

If you are really interested in an objective view of your church, you might consider hiring the services of a Mystery Worshipper. They operate just like Mystery Shoppers and give you an evaluation of their visit.

The Mystery Worshipper

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