If you visit Willow Creek Community Church, don’t be surprised if no one asks your name. You won’t be given a name tag, and you won’t be asked to stand or raise your hand as a new person. No one will even give you a form to fill out for a follow-up contact.
Don’t we care about visitors? Of course we do. Don’t we want them to come back? Sure! In fact, it’s because we want them to return that we try not to pressure them on their first visit.
Let me explain with a personal example. I grew up in a nondenominational church. When I went away to college, I visited churches of various denominations. I soon learned that my home church was similar to most Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and other denominational churches. Even as a visitor, I knew pretty much what to expect-how I should dress, what information would be in the bulletins, and how to respond to the greeters. I fit right in.
Then a friend invited me to a Catholic mass-a first for me. I felt anxious about attending, and the reasons soon bore themselves out. As the service unfolded, people were standing up, sitting down, and singing (much like in other churches I had attended), but this time I was completely lost. At one point, the priest came down the aisle, waving what looked to me like a large salt shaker. As he swung it in my direction, three or four drops of water hit my face. I had no idea what was happening.
Of course, all of this was perfectly normal for my Catholic friend. But to me, it was not normal. What was expected of me? Was I doing anything improper? My insecurity multiplied when I couldn’t anticipate or understand the order of events.
I’d been a comfortable visitor at the other churches. At this service, I was an outsider.
That distinction makes a huge difference in the way people feel when they attend church, and it has shaped the way we’ve tried to approach those who visit our church.
The ins and outs
We think of visitors in two major categories. First, we expect a lot of insiders, people who understand traditional church subculture. They know what to expect before they walk through the door.
The second group I’ll refer to as outsiders. They have no idea what takes place during a church service. Many don’t know the basic beliefs of the Christian faith. It’s easy for this group to feel anxious about their first visit. It’s the fear of the unknown.
Some churches regularly receive visitors from both groups-insiders and outsiders. Our church, for example, has visitors each week who are Jewish, Catholic, Hindu, or completely unchurched. Many of these first-timers are uncomfortable with even our basic songs and prayers, not to mention the suspicion that they might be asked to speak or to find a Bible verse.
Conversely, traditional methods of greeting are acceptable to insiders. These people expect to stand and be recognized, to meet several of the regular members, and to respond to other church customs.
Potential problems surface when visitors regularly include both insiders and outsiders. Should the church risk subjecting outsiders to discomfort in order to make visiting insiders feel welcome? Or is it better to do everything possible to reduce the anxiety of visiting outsiders, even though insiders may tend to feel overlooked?
As we faced this dilemma, we finally decided to place more consideration on the feelings of the outsiders, without writing off the insiders. Experience shows us that visitors can be made to feel welcome without the name tags, official greeters, or special recognition. The objective of making a visitor feel welcome has been one of our driving goals. Let me take you through what we hope is a first-timer’s experience at Willow Creek.
A visitor’s experience
Our attempt to make people feel comfortable by reducing anxiety begins in the parking lot. Friendly attendants show visitors where to park. We try to prevent confusing hassles, whether they involve searching for parking places or wondering which door to enter.
Inside each entrance of the church are two or three greeters. They offer a “Good morning” or “Hello,” and try to spot people who look disoriented. They give directions when needed, help newcomers guide their children to the appropriate locations, and generally direct incoming people toward the auditorium.
As people enter the auditorium, they receive a program. (Our references to auditorium/program rather than sanctuary/bulletin are intentional; they reflect the language of our nonchurched visitors.) The program clearly outlines the order of the events, and it includes only announcements that might be of interest to outsiders. (Insiders also attend a church service on Wednesday nights, where they receive a program geared to reach regular church attenders.) Ushers guide people to open sections rather than specific seats, so they are free to sit where they wish and claim their own space. Our auditorium has theater-type seats rather than pews. (First-timers don’t have to worry that some stranger will slide up against them.)
We also strive to keep anxiety to a minimum with the service itself. The first thirty minutes of our service are allotted for programming such as a short Scripture reading to introduce the topic of the day, a drama, and a short, easy song or chorus that even first-timers can learn effortlessly. After the chorus, during which people are standing, we say something to the effect of, “As you’re seated, turn and greet some of the people around you.” We don’t distinguish members and visitors. It’s just a time for a brief and friendly interchange.
Only after these attempts to reduce the anxiety of our visitors do we formally acknowledge them. During the announcements (about twenty minutes into the service), we tell them we consider visitors our welcome guests and we’re here to serve them. If they want to find out more about our church, we give them the options of: (1) stopping by a counter in the lobby for more information as they leave; (2) being contacted later, which they can arrange by filling in a section of the program and dropping it into the offering plate; or (3) calling the church at the number listed in their program. Our program also includes an invitation to our Wednesday night service if they want to take the next step in their spiritual life.
We don’t pressure visitors any further. We try to take the first step in their direction. Then, when they’re ready to take a step toward us, we’ll take another step. Our goal is for visitors to think, That wasn’t so bad!
Warmth and electricity
Instead of focusing on the tangible overtures to visitors-name tags, address forms, the firm handshake of a greeter-we strive to achieve two important intangibles.
The first is warmth. When you enter someone’s home for the first time, you can tell within fifteen seconds whether the living room creates warm or cold impressions. You may not be able to explain how you know, but you do.
The same is true for churches. It’s possible to be name-tagged, greeted numerous times, and asked to stand-all in the name of friendliness-only to go home with the impression that the church you visited left you cold. So here are a few things we do to try to warm the atmosphere.
Greeters. We train our greeters and ushers in how to make people feel comfortable, and to be comfortable themselves. I’ve seen churches where some of the volunteers were willing servants but made curiously inappropriate greeters (people with perpetual scowls, arrogant attitudes, or overbearing dispositions). And I’ve come to believe it’s better to do without than to have greeters who overwhelm, alienate, or intimidate newcomers.
The building. Most congregations have a person or two with interior decorating talent. We sought these people and asked them to suggest ways to warm up the church through interior appointments, plants, auditorium banners, and so forth. This is one area where smaller churches can be particularly effective, since many larger church buildings often have more of a corporate feel.
People also appreciate a clean, well-maintained building. Research shows that cleanliness outscored the thrill of the attractions and friendliness of employees as the number-one draw at Walt Disney World. It means a lot to church visitors, too. Things like cracked paint, litter, dirt, ugly trash cans, and other unkempt details can destroy a warm image.
Music. Most churches plan their preludes, hymns, offertories, and choral selections. They also include long, reverential pauses for prayer and brief silences during transitions. But what some don’t realize is that almost any length of silence can be uncomfortable for visitors. So we try to utilize pleasant background music prior to the service, during transitions, and anywhere else it might reduce anxiety.
Prayer. The way people pray communicates how they relate to God. When congregational prayers are simple, basic, and conversational, God may not seem so foreign to visitors.
Miscellaneous elements. Several other components can help create warmth: (1) Humor is effective in bringing down defenses, though it is important to select appropriate times and people to make it work naturally. (2) Visitors can feel uncomfortable when leaders seem anxious. But if an inexperienced speaker or singer admits nervousness, the congregation won’t be so likely to feel uneasy when his voice quivers or her hands shake. (3) When an unexpected event takes place (such as a loud sneeze), a spontaneous response from the pulpit (perhaps a “God bless you”) demonstrates warmth. (4) While clothing, in itself, may not generate much warmth for your church, it can become a barrier if newcomers perceive your leaders as backward or either too tailored or too tattered.
A second intangible is electricity. If you’ve ever walked into a football stadium full of excited people waiting for a game to begin, you’ve no doubt experienced that “special something” in the air. The power of anticipation surges through such a place, and you feel as if you belong, even though you may not know a soul. You sense a common bond of expectation.
Churches also can create that exciting sensation. While it’s a little more difficult to generate electricity than to promote warmth, as we consider the possibilities in our church, we keep three things in mind:
The importance of creativity. If the order of events is much the same from one week to the next, people may not try too hard to attend regularly. The feeling is something like watching a taped football game, knowing the final score ahead of time. The element of the unknown is lost. We want people to walk into our church with a sense of anticipation, wondering, What’s going to be different this week?
First impressions. The first fifteen minutes of a service are extremely important. If you traditionally start slowly or tend to “get the announcements out of the way” first thing, it’s hard to pick up the momentum. We try to start strong, usually with music, and then vary the intensity level for the individual elements of the service.
The scope of the service. It’s better to do a few things well than a lot of things poorly. Electricity is not the result of trying to do something more and bigger each week. A simple song with piano accompaniment likely will be more effective than an unrehearsed full ensemble.
The presence of warmth and electricity will speak volumes about a church and God himself. Even when omitting the traditional means of greeting, visitors can feel welcome and leave with a satisfied feeling that they would like to return.
It works
Does our system work? Most people like it, although we occasionally get complaints from insiders who didn’t feel as welcomed as expected. But outsider Lee Strobel will endorse our system.
Lee was an atheist nine years ago when he first came to Willow Creek. He recalls, “I didn’t like traditional church services, and my number-one desire was anonymity. I didn’t want to be singled out, smothered with affection, or forced to sign anything. As the legal affairs editor of the Chicago Tribune, I even carried my reporter’s notebook so I could brush off anyone who tried to get too personal with me.”
But twenty-two months later, Lee became a Christian. The anonymity we provided gave him the time to investigate Christianity at his own pace. Knowing he wouldn’t be embarrassed at a service, he kept coming back. And by coming, he learned. Lee says he liked having control over when he would take the next step.
How do I know so much about Lee? Because a few years after becoming a Christian, he wholeheartedly traded in his lifelong passion as a journalist to join our staff. He began as director of service activities, which put him in charge of making good first impressions on newcomers. Today he is director of communications, where he uses his experience as a journalist, and associate director of evangelism, where he tries to help our people understand the mind-set of the nonchurched. Both Lee and the church are blessed.
But we don’t leave the entire responsibility for newcomers to Lee. As leaders, we all continue to evaluate our church as a newcomer would. Where we find “traditions” that might cause anxiety or self-consciousness, we try to substitute new ways to yield warmth and electricity.
We want first-timers to leave our services not only with the spoken message that God cares, but also with the unspoken message that we care. If we’re unsuccessful the first time, we may not have another opportunity.
-Don Cousins, associate pastor
Willow Creek Community Church
South Barrington, Illinois
with Stan Campbell
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