BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (Lifeway Research) – Every church aims to welcome guests in some way. Those efforts may just look different in different churches and may have changed over the last decade.
According to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors, more than 99% of churches welcome visitors in at least one of 11 ways. Fewer than 1% say they don’t do any of the almost one dozen efforts. Still, several methods are more popular among certain congregations.
“There is more to welcoming than saying ‘Hello,’” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifewayResearch. “We see churches seeking to provide guests information, direct them where they need to go, obtain contact information to follow up with them, as well as greeting them.”
Welcoming ways
The most popular methods to make guests feel welcome at U.S. Protestant churches are having greeters at entrances (91%) and offering an opportunity to meet the pastor after the service (91%). Four in 5 churches (80%) have printed cards guests are asked to complete to enable follow-up, while 38% have an online form, and 28% have books in the pews for all attendees to indicate they were present that also collect visitor information.
Two in 3 (66%) have a central location where guests can learn about the church. Most pastors also say they periodically host an information session for new people to learn more about the church (58%) or set aside time during the service for regular attendees to welcome guests (52%).
Around 2 in 5 have gifts for guests (41%). Among the most popular gifts at churches offering one to guests are mugs or cups (21%), pens (21%), gift bags or baskets (14%), food or drink items (10%), books (8%), welcome packets about the church (8%), Bibles (6%), gift cards (5%), bookmarks (2%) or another type of gift (6%).
Fewer churches have greeters or attendants in the parking lot (18%). The least popular manner of welcoming guests is by asking them to stand in the worship service (16%).
“Churches engage in a lot of different activities to welcome guests. Of the 11 specific activities we asked about, the typical church does five or six of them,” said McConnell. “It takes effort to help someone new feel comfortable walking into an existing relational community like a church.”
Different greetings at different churches
Depending on the type of church, guests may be more likely to be greeted in a specific way.
White pastors are the most likely to say they have greeters at entrances (92%). African American pastors are the most likely to set aside time during the service for regular attendees to welcome guests (82%) and to ask guests to stand (57%). Pastors of other ethnicities are among the most likely to offer a gift (56%), have books in the pews for all attendees to indicate they were present that also collect visitor information (43%) and have greeters in the parking lot (28%).
Older pastors are also among the most likely to bring attention to visitors during the service. Those 65 and older are the most likely to ask guests to stand (24%). Pastors 45-54 (56%) and those 65 and older (55%) are more likely than those 18-44 (44%) to set aside time for regular attendees to welcome guests.
Church size also has a significant impact on the way congregations greet guests. Pastors at churches with 250 or more are the most likely to have greeters in the parking lot (52%). Pastors at churches with fewer than 50 in attendance are the least likely to have greeters at entrances (80%) and provide printed cards for guests to fill out for follow-up (70%).
Additionally, the larger the church, the more likely they are to have a central location where guests can learn about the church, offer periodical information sessions to learn about the church, have an online form for guests to provide information for follow-up and provide a gift to visitors.
“The larger the church, the more guests there are who need to be welcomed and communicated with. It is both a challenge to communicate well with each visitor and an opportunity to have a central location for this to occur and to have enough people for periodic information sessions,” said McConnell.
Changing methods
Churches tend to change how they welcome guests as the effectiveness of those methods changes. Several methods have become less popular among churches since a 2017 Lifeway Research study.
Today, fewer churches say they periodically host an information session for new people (down 7 points from 65% in 2017 to 58%), have a central location where guests can learn about the church (down 12 points from 78% to 66%), have books in the pews for all attendees to indicate they were present that also collect visitor information (down 16 points from 44% to 28%) and set aside time during the service for regular attendees to welcome guests (down 17 points from 69% to 52%).
Churches are also less likely now compared to 2017 to have greeters in the parking lot (down 6 points from 24% to 18%), an opportunity to meet the pastor after the service (down 5 points from 96% to 91%) or greeters at the entrances (down 4 points from 95% to 91%).
“Some churches may never have resumed a time of shaking hands or passing books after COVID precautions limited such activities,” said McConnell. “As churches’ attendance slowly rebounded after COVID, many of the ‘new’ people were simply being welcomed back. As guests today are likely first-time guests, churches will have to once again prioritize communicating with them well.”
For more information, view the complete report and visit LifewayResearch.com.
Aaron Earls is a writer for Lifeway Christian Resources.
Methodology
The phone survey of 1,003 Protestant pastors was conducted Aug. 8 – Sept. 3, 2024. The calling list was a stratified random sample, drawn from a list of all Protestant churches. Quotas were used for church size. Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest at the church. Responses were weighted by region and church size to more accurately reflect the population. The completed sample is 1,003 surveys. The sample provides 95% confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.3%. This margin of error accounts for the effect of weighting. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups. Comparisons are made to a phone survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors conducted Aug. 30 – Sept. 18, 2017 using the same methodology.