Answering Visitor Questions from the Front of the Room

by William Cowles and Reba Collins

 

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating.

 

Churches that provide answers to questions before they have to be asked demonstrate a high level of hospitality and welcome. They quickly put strangers at ease and open up a great opportunity for positive connection.

No other method opens the door of opportunity more than a leader addressing a visitor’s question directly. Everyone wants to “hear it from the horse’s mouth,” and church searchers are especially tuned in to what leaders say about their beliefs, their organization’s culture, and the direction they are leading people.

When people visit your church for the first time, they automatically sense whether they are on a leader’s radar or not. Whether it’s asking people to sing a song, give to a missional cause, or to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, visitor–conscious leaders see every asking opportunity as an opportunity to answer visitor questions.

Here are some tips that you can use to head off visitor anxiety, answer their questions before they’re asked, and make visitors feel expected, welcome, comfortable, wanted, and compelled to follow your lead:

1.       Introduce. Say your name out loud; spell it if you have to; put it on the screens. A visitor has no idea who you are or why you’re standing up front talking to them. Then, tell them why you’re talking to them and why you want them to listen, sing, pray, or support ministry.

2.      Reveal. Give a 30-second “elevator speech” about your church’s purpose – its vision and mission. It doesn’t have to be long and involved, but it needs to answer the visitor vision and mission questions: “What is your church’s purpose? What does it want to accomplish in the future?”

3.       Explain. Cover the basics. Tell everyone how long the service will last (We’ll be here about 70 minutes.), and what it will include (We’ll sing three songs that speak to today’s message of _____. We’ll pray together, because that’s how we talk to God directly about things we’re thankful for and worried about. We’ll hear a message from _____, and you’ll learn _____________. We’ll take up an offering that goes to support ___________. And, we’ll close with a final song.) Make sure you include communion, baptisms, or other special elements. Don’t take them by surprise with something they didn’t expect and probably don’t understand.

4.      Transition. The Order of Worship doesn’t really answer the important questions visitors are seeking. But a two-sentence transition statement can. You can convey information about your church’s beliefs, values, vision, mission, purpose, and visitor readiness with simple statements such as:

• This first song is about God’s unconditional love for us. Whether you believe he loves you or not, we invite you to join us in singing because singing raises our spirits.
• We have several members tutoring 50 local school children because we are passionate about  helping people move out of poverty and a good education is essential to making that happen. Give now, knowing that God uses your offerings to change lives through our church.  

By the third or fourth transition, you’ve answered a lot of questions!

5.      Invite. If your church genuinely wants visitors to come back, the person leading the service has to invite them to do so. It’s not enough to have an invitation buried on the last page of the Bulletin, or to leave this important task to someone else. When you’re leading worship, you’re in charge of that day’s communication to visitors – they need to hear it from you – the leader. Be specific – We’ve worked hard to provide everyone the opportunity to connect with God and each other in meaningful ways, and we invite you to continue that process with us. I’ll be available after the service in the ________; we have some great volunteers at our Welcome Center to give you more information and answer questions. Please take advantage of these opportunities to learn more about us so we can help you continue your spiritual journey.

6.      Bless. Sure, you give a benediction, we know. But, does it bless the visitor? The searcher? The seeker? The doubter? The questioner? This is your last chance to make a great first impression on visitors. Heap blessings on their questions and doubts and fears. Let them know they’re normal, they’re loved, and they’re in the company of believers who will walk with them, regardless of the path or difficulty of their past journeys.

Of all the ways there are to head off a church visitor’s anxiety, and to fill in their curiosity blanks before they leap to wrong conclusions, an authoritative word of comfort from the person in charge is hard to beat.