How to Prepare for First-Time Guests

“Hey, thanks for visiting our church. We’re so glad you’re here.” This is a phrase we all hope to hear at our churches. Having first-timers in our student ministries is a really big deal because there are a million and one things a student could be doing instead of trying out our churches for the first time. Visitors at church can feel awkward. It’s a new place, there are people they don’t know, and they probably don’t know you as the leader or pastor.

We all love having first-time guests in our church. Especially when we find out they are there because a friend or someone in the student ministry invited them. So, how do we prepare for first-time guests? What are the steps we should take? How do we realize the importance of it? So, here are a few tips to help you before, during, and after first-time guests come to your church.

Tip #1: Prepare for Them

This sounds obvious, right? But if you want first-time guests, be ready for them before they actually come through the doors of your church. Don’t be caught by surprise. Walk in your youth room or church or wherever a first-time guest would come and try to think, see, and hear as they would. Imagine what it would be like to be 12-18 years old and show up to your church for the first time. Ask questions like:

• When first-time guests show up on church property, do they know where to go? Do we need some type of signage or banner to help direct them?
• Does their parent have to check them in?
• Who will be the first person to make a point of contact with them? What will that person say?
• Do I want to have a first-time guest gift for them?
• Do they need to fill out a form?
• Should I have someone give them a brief overview of the night?
• What is the plan if they don’t know anybody in our church? How will they get connected, and who will do that?
• Do I have students who can immediately take a guest into the room and help them feel welcome?
• What do I do after the night is over? Who follows up with them, and how do I follow up with them?
• Does our church website and social media provide a new digital front door for people to find out information about our ministry?

These are all helpful questions to get your mind and ministry prepared to welcome a guest. Get your leaders or students together and think through these things.

In our ministry, we have adults and student leaders at the door to help greet, and we have students check in every night. If someone is a first-time guest, they have a guest area where they check in and an adult is right there with them, greeting them and telling them about our ministry. They also will help them get connected with a staff member or a student in their grade to help them feel welcome and connected to students. They also get a gift bag at the end of the service with more information on the church and a coupon for a free t-shirt on their 2nd visit back to our church.

Tip # 2: Collect Information

Gathering some contact information for first-timers is very important. Number one, it shows them that you actually care enough about them to learn more about them this way, but it also allows you to follow up with them outside of that specific time. When you collect information on them, you need to do something with it, or they could feel like their visit with you didn’t matter. In our church, when we have first-timers, they have to check in at our guest area, and we have an iPad on a stand that students will fill out. Below is the information we put on our guest form:

• Name
• Address
• E-mail
• Mobile Phone
• Parent Phone
• Birthday
• Gender
• Parent Names
• Grade
• School Name
• Do you want to receive text messages from our ministry text alerts?
• If you came with a friend today, who is it?
• Are you involved in another church somewhere?

These are just some ideas to help you get the right data. There are several times when a student (middle school specifically) does not know the information above, so do your best to at least have one means of communication for the follow-up process, which leads to the 3rd step.

Tip # 3: Follow-Up

Once a student visits, it’s very important that follow-up happens quickly and clearly. If you collect information at the time of the visit, you can follow up within 24 hours. The follow-up part helps make students not feel forgotten. Use the information you collect to the advantage of your ministry. This can look in a couple of different steps. The first step is to send a personal postcard to them thanking them for coming and that we hope they had a great time and hope to see them again soon. Second, use another adult or volunteer who helps send their contact information to their small group leader, who can then send them a text, e-mail, or phone call within 48 hours of that student’s visit. This allows them to hear from a staff leader and a small group leader within 2 days of their visit.

Follow-up is a huge part of guest ministry. One thing to consider for a first-time guest is making a personal connection with that student's parent. This allows you to introduce yourself, tell them about your ministry, thank them for bringing their son/daughter, and help create a relationship with the parents in the ministry. Having strong relationships with parents helps create a culture of buy-in and trust for the ministry, which can often lead to parents being big advocates for the student ministry to other parents you might not be able to reach! 

Tip # 4: Next Steps

It’s great to have students come once as a guest, but what about getting them outside of the visitor seat and into an actual part of your ministry? There must be some next steps to help get them connected. Maybe this means if they come on Wednesday, their next step is to come on a Sunday morning and get connected that way. Maybe there’s a big event coming up, and you can get them signed up for that. Maybe the next step is that they want to join a discipleship group or begin to serve in the church in some way. Whatever next steps your church can have or establish for students will be a great way to move them out of the visitor seat and into a student actively involved in your ministry and calling your church “home.” 

Creating a visitor-friendly culture is at the core of reaching new students and reaching the lost. You must think intentionally about this area. Be prepared for when the next first-time guest comes through the doors of your church, and you will look fantastic to them and their parents! These few tips can make a huge impact on your ministry and get you thinking more intentionally about how to reach first-time guests and what to do when you do reach them.

Share your thoughts with others in our YM360 community:

1. What do you do for first-time guests in your ministry? What do they remember about their first visit?
2. What do you think students think when they walk into your church’s doors for the first time? How can you improve that?