Guest Services in Your Congregation Needs to be Just Right!

Reports from the Congregation by George Bullard at BullardJournal@gmail.com

Do you remember the bedtime story for children called Goldilocks and the Three Bears? 

If so, you will remember Goldilocks, upon entering the house of the three bears, found three bowls of oatmeal on the table. She was hungry and tried the first bowl, but it was too hot. The second bowl was too cold. The third bowl was just right. She ate all of it.

This is the goal for the guest services system in your congregation so you can make the best first impression on guests. It cannot be too hot, or it will turn people away. It cannot be too cold, or it will leave people with the impression you do not want them. It must be just right.

Having a just right guest services system is as much an art as it is a science. It will vary in different congregations, different communities, and even different denominational cultures. It is imperative for each congregation to discover through training, practice, prayer, hospitality, and constant evaluation what is just right for their congregational culture and the guests who attend.

Despite all the training and practice of a guest services team they must intuit the degree of welcome desired by the people arriving as guests. Too much? Not enough? Just right?

Our Recent Experience

For the first time in many years my wife and I are in a new city seeking a new congregational relationship. We are patient. We do not expect to quickly find a new congregation that is just right.

In less than two months we have visited five congregations. We acted passively about our presence in each one. This allowed us to judge if the approach to us was hot, cold, or just right.

In my consulting practice and denominational service, I evaluated the guest services of more than 1000 congregations. This was the first time in many years I was on the other side looking in.

I invite you to read these case studies and decide if they are hot, cold, or just right regarding guest services.

From the Parking Lot to the Worship Center

Guest services is a complex subject. In this article I will only look at parking and moving into the worship center. Future Reports from the Congregation will look at other issues.

Congregation Alpha: As we approached this congregation’s location, we observed that various parking lots looked full. Then we saw a small lot that invited guests to park there. It was immediately in front of a main entrance to the facilities. We pulled into an empty space and began walking toward the main building. An attendant asked us if we were first-time guests in a way that led me to believe he was not welcoming us but checking to see if we were really guests. When we affirmed we were guests, he pointed to where we would find the “Welcome Center” in the gathering area just inside.

As we walked in the building, we received the same generic welcome that each person entering seemed to receive unless the greeter specifically knew their name. We bypassed the “Welcome Center” and entered the worship center. An usher greeted us -- again generically -- as we entered. The transition between worship services left little time for any conversation. We were attending the second of three worship services.

Congregation Beta: As we approached this congregation from a main thoroughfare behind it, we saw an entrance sign to the church and turned in. We rode up and down the parking lot and did not see a place to park. We then spotted an attendant who pointed us to one space on the end of the parking lot. We pulled into it, but with the curb and building next to it I was not sure we could get out of it.

We walked toward an inviting entrance under a porte cochère. An off-duty sheriff’s deputy standing there for security opened the door for us. Inside we saw no one, no clear signs, and three or four possible ways to go. We chose one, came to an open area, approached someone, and asked how to get to the worship center.

She asked if we wanted to enter at the front of the worship center or from the vestibule. We indicated the vestibule. With that in mind she took us through the Fellowship Hall, into a hallway with no lights on. She found a light switch and led us up a narrow set of stairs to the vestibule. An usher handed us a bulletin, and we found a seat near the back.

Congregation Gamma: We approached this congregational facility from a prominent street, and amazingly saw a parking space right in front of the church. But we saw no one. We began walking to the other side of the building and saw a couple coming toward us from the opposite direction. We stopped and asked them where to enter. They did not know as they were also first-time guests.

I suggested we try the parking lot further up the sidewalk. When we got there, we saw many cars, and people going in a certain door. We entered that door. Halfway down the hall someone recognized us as first-time guests, offered us a gift bag, and pointed up a narrow hallway where someone would show us how to get into the worship center.

Congregation Delta: This was a church plant meeting in a community facility. The parking was expansive, and large signs waving in the slight breeze of that morning clearly indicated where to enter. Inside we were greeted as first-time guests and asked if we would mind wearing a name tag printed on a label maker. We agreed as we saw everyone wearing a nametag. The woman handling this duty looked like she was untrained in the use of the label maker, and more concerned about its operation than even looking at us.

The person who greeted us then walked us down the hallway to the worship center and invited us to sit where we desired.

Congregation Epsilon: We approached this congregational facility and saw one parking place remaining in the small lot in front. We pulled in and walked in the direction of what we thought would be the worship center. No one was outside except for an off-duty sheriff’s deputy sitting in his vehicle with the motor running.

We walked past an area with glass walls and saw no one. We kept walking toward what we thought was the worship center, and soon realized that pathway would not take us there. We went back and entered the door of the area that was open and expansive. We realized it was a gathering area between the classrooms and the worship center. Yet, no one was there.

As we arrived in the vestibule we were recognized as first-time guests and given a bulletin. We walked in the worship center to find less than a dozen people in an area that would hold several hundred. We found a seat.  

Hot, Cold, or Just Right?

With only this brief view of these congregations, do they impress you as hot, cold, or just right regarding guest services?