Each Sunday (or special event) is an opportunity to invite, welcome, and receive guests with warmth and intention in your faith community. Creating a culture of invitation is very important and equally important is hospitality and personal follow up.
It takes courage to invite a friend or neighbor and their children to worship. The church must be prepared and ready for when the moment occurs. Creating a culture of invitation starts with leadership speaking (and preaching) into it, sharing examples of invitation among the community, and celebrating stories of connection because of those invitations. This makes the way for a culture of invitation to emerge.
Setting the expectation of guests and preparing to receive them is the next critical step.
Invite volunteers to serve specifically as family greeters. Train them on how to answer the basic questions a parent will ask about your program and protocols:
These are just a few examples of questions guests will have. Be prepared to welcome them and train volunteers to answer or direct them to staff who have the answers.
It’s also very important to have your leaders welcome the child, as they enter kid spaces, with a warm smile and invitation to engage in play. Training your volunteer leaders in the classroom to welcome them into a game of uno or duck duck goose, or Lego blocks helps kids feel at home in a new space. After check-in, send each family off with a welcome bag including a program brochure or flyer, fun little toys for the kids and something branded with your church info that’s useful; like a stress ball or color changing cup. Make it fun!
Once you are continually creating a culture of invitation, prepared to receive new families with warm hospitality, then be sure to follow up personally with a call, text, or handwritten card that very week – that afternoon is even better! Thank them for coming, let them know you’d love to be their church family, and tell them you look forward to welcoming them back next Sunday!
Intentional strategy and action like I’ve shared above will bring fruit and connection throughout your kids ministry or any ministry for that matter. Putting guests first is a mindset - recognizing the courage it took to walk into a new and unfamiliar place and trusting their kids with your church. This should be handled with great care.
Finally, once you have a success story, share it out. Celebrate the invitational culture and personal connection a family felt at your church. This will help define your brand to the community as a church who welcomes and cares!
Jason Gant is a licensed local pastor in the United Methodist Church and leads Resurrection’s ministry with children and families across all of our locations, including online. You will often find him dreaming of new ways to do effective ministry…or way out on a mountain stream fly fishing! He is married to Scharme, and they have two teenage daughters.