Tag: church services

The Do’s & Don’ts of Church Announcements

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Church announcements are an essential component for building and sustaining your church community, but there’s a right and wrong way to do them. Over the years, we’ve seen multiple complaints about lengthy or irrelevant announcements in our mystery guest reports. One guest reported,

“The church spent eight minutes passing the mic around for announcements and another eight minutes giving ‘family updates’ (joys and concerns). I felt like I was at a social club rather than worship.”

Making a few short announcements from the pulpit is a great way to communicate the same message to everyone at once. If they’re too long, however, you risk putting people to sleep or seeing them leave early. To ensure your church announcements are informative, yet concise, here are some do’s and don’ts to keep in mind.

Do:

  • Be brief. The congregation is there for the main attraction—The Gospel—not to lightstock_378331_full_katelisten to 10+ minutes of announcements. Keep them as brief as possible, otherwise they’re merely a frustrating distraction.
  • Focus on the essentials. Don’t try to cram a bunch of details into your church announcements—no one will remember them. Instead, focus on sharing two or three things and use other communication platforms for the rest.
  • Have engaging volunteers share announcements. These volunteers should not only want to share these announcements, but they should be excited to do so. Their excitement will show, making the process—and the information—more enjoyable and memorable for everyone.
  • Invite people to join. Instead of asking people to participate in an event, invite them. Rather than saying something like, “We need volunteers to help serve dinner to the homeless,” say “Our church is blessed each month to serve meals to the homeless and you are invited to take part.” Be sure to also include where they need to go for more information.

Don’t:

  • Forget your guests. As you saw with the mystery guest quote earlier, church announcements can turn an okay experience into a negative one. Your announcements should always include a welcome to guests, as well as information on how they can get connected.
  • Avoid insider language. You want to be brief, but don’t be so brief that only a few people know what you’re talking about. Make sure you include essential information, like a contact person or where to find out more, like on the church website. Don’t assume your guests—or even regularly attending members—will know where to find that information.
  • Stick to a singular platform. One size does not fit all. Every generation has their Website Viewing on Smartphonepreferred communication style, so you’ll need more than one platform to make your announcements. In addition to your in-church announcements, you may also want to consider videos or rotating slides playing before and after service, bulletin, emails, and even social media.
  • Leave out the good stuff. We’re deluged with bad news and people are constantly asking us for something, all of which is exhausting. Remember to include some good news in your church announcements that everyone can celebrate.

“The worship pastor gave announcements about the connection card, how to share joys/concerns, and other announcements that were on a monitor at the front of the church. I really liked that the announcements were done first. This prevented anything from being done once the service officially started that would have interrupted the worship mindset.”

Your church announcements don’t have to be long and boring, and your members and guests will probably thank you for making them shorter and more exciting.

Is your congregation snoozing through the announcements or are guests left scratching their heads in confusion? Our mystery guest program can help you find out. We send unchurched mystery guests or mystery worshippers into churches of all denominations all over the country to provide unbiased feedback. Armed with this feedback, you’ll know exactly which areas your church excels in and which areas need work.

6 Ways to Boost Post-Easter Engagement

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You probably already know Easter is the highest-attended church service of the year. Hopefully you’ve prepared your church and website to ensure guests can easily find you this Easter and that they feel welcome when they attend your services. If you don’t have a proper follow-up plan in place, however, attendance will drop again in the weeks that follow. To keep guests and non-regulars coming back for more, create and implement a follow-up strategy using the suggestions below.

Boost Your Post-Easter Engagement

1. Draw them Back In

Don’t let your Easter sermon stand alone. Consider making it into an intriguing series that will pique the interest of your guests. At some point during the service or church announcements, tell the congregation what they can expect to hear during next week’s sermon. Choose topics that address the real-life struggles your attendees and visitors may be facing, such as divorce or addiction. The more relevant the topic, the more likely guests are to return.

2. Provide Details for Future Serviceslightstock_80197_full_kate

Many churches offer additional worship times for their Easter services to accommodate the larger number of attendees. This can lead to some confusion for guests who want to return but did not attend a standard worship time. Make sure your guests know exactly what time worship will be held in the coming weeks, along with any other information they may need, like where to park or Sunday school times.

3. List How to Connect

List all your contact information in several locations, such as on a guest information card and in any bulletins or brochures you hand out. Be sure to include any relevant phone numbers and email addresses, plus how to sign up for an e-newsletter and where they can find you on Facebook and other social media platforms. The more options you give them to connect, the more likely they are to do so.

4. Get their Contact Information

lightstock_115845_full_kateDespite giving guests numerous ways to connect with you, they may not want to “make the first move”, so it’s important to get their information in return. Consider leaving guest cards in every seat or put them in the bulletin, asking for their name, email, address, and phone number along with their preferred contact method. To encourage guests to fill these out, offer them an incentive such as a gift or a small donation made in their name to a particular charity.

5. Make the Connection

Getting contact information from your guests is only half the battle. You have to actually use that information if you want to make the connection and turn those visitors into regular attendees. Put a plan in place to follow-up with every guest who left their information. Connect within 24 to 48 hours of receiving their information. Ask how they liked the Easter services and ensure they know the time and place for next Sunday. If they provided an address, consider mailing them additional information on your church and the various ways they can get involved.

6. Stay Connected

lightstock_319320_full_kateDon’t forget about your guests after you make that first connection! You don’t want to bombard them with so many emails that they unsubscribe, but you also don’t want to give up after the first try. You never know when that one touch will happen at just the right time and drive them to come back to your church. So add guests to your monthly newsletter, send them invitations to upcoming events, and keep them informed of special services coming up. For more ideas on following up with your church visitors go here.

Every church sees a bump in attendance on Easter Sunday, but due to poor planning and lack of follow-up, attendance drops again in the weeks that follow. Don’t squander your opportunity to connect with newcomers and turn them into regular attendees. Our mystery guest program has shown just how effective those follow-ups are:

“I received a follow-up card a few days after my visit, from the pastor. It was a nice handwritten note thanking us for visiting and inviting us to come again.”

If you’d like to find out just how well you’re connecting with visitors, our mystery guest program can provide you with the unbiased feedback you’re looking for. These mystery guests will come into your church and evaluate everything from the parking lot to the greeters to any follow-up they receive after leaving their information. They report back on how well your church performs in each of these areas so you can make adjustments to better connect with future visitors.

Top 5 Best & Worst Things that Happened at Churches in 2017

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For the past 10 years, churches have hired us to find people who don’t regularly attend services to visit as first-time guests. The goal: to help churches see things through the eyes of a visitor. In the last year alone, we read over 1,000 first-time guest experiences at churches of all sizes, from small to mega, in every part of the country, and every denomination. Some of the responses made us laugh; others made us cringe. So here they are: the best and worst of 2017. Enjoy!

Best

1. “I felt more welcome in this church full of strangers than I do at my own family’s holidays.”

Greeter

2.  “Best website I’ve ever seen from a church, or any organization for that matter. I knew exactly where to go today because the website has a feature where it gives you a first-person view of walking into the church, what you will see, and then walking you into the main worship area. Wow.”

3.  “People throughout the sanctuary were singing and dancing happily. I sang my heart out, which I don’t ordinarily do because I often don’t hear anyone around me singing in church, so I feel too self-conscious to belt it out. Not here!”

lightstock_124988_full_kate

4.  As I got out of the car, an older gentleman came over and walked me to the door with an umbrella over my head so I wouldn’t get wet. I felt very welcome.”

5.  “I was genuinely greeted, and it made me feel special and appreciated, like they truly cared about me being there. It made me want to return, especially after a hard weekend.”

Worst

1.  “I had someone get upset with me while I was leaving the church parking lot because I didn’t exit fast enough. The person behind me became very upset and began to honk their horn repeatedly. Had I just driven into the street, I would have been in an accident! Being polite and patient should extend into the community, not just within the church building.”

Driver

2.  “A lady tried to connect with me by talking about race since I was obviously a different race from everyone else in the church. She asked if I felt uncomfortable because I stood out racially among the crowd. After that she asked me if I needed money for lunch and other things.”

3.  “I checked the church’s website and found information that led me to the church at the wrong time. I visited thinking I was attending the 9:30 service, only to find out they switched to their fall schedule and now only had two services.”

4.  “When I sat down, a very nice lady came to tell me that I was sitting in their pew. I was willing to move, but the pew was quite large, and they said they like to sit in the middle.”

Ignored

5.  “Finally, after the third time of butchering my first name, the greeter said, “Your people’s mother’s give you very creative names that no one can remember. But it’s a beautiful name.”

Making visitors feel welcome is the cornerstone of any organization or business that wants to be successful, and churches are no different. When you make guests to your church feel both welcomed and accepted when they visit, you increase their likelihood of returning week after week.

Where do you think your church would fall on this list? Would you be in the best category or the worst? If you’re concerned you might fall in the latter category, consider getting some unbiased feedback from us. We send mystery guests (people who don’t regularly attend church) into churches every weekend to attend services and report back on their experiences. This information helps churches like yours improve how they welcome and connect with visitors. To learn more, visit http://www.mysteryguestprogram.com.