By Jason Allison
This is part 8 and the conclusion of my Casino & Churches series. We are looking at some of the parallels between my first-time experience at a Casino and the experience first-time guests at your church have.
Parallel #1: I felt like I was walking on eggshells.
Parallel #2: Stranger Danger!
Parallel #3: The Regulars
Parallel #4: Here’s Your Sign
Parallel #5: Risky Business
Parallel #6: Where Do I Start?
Parallel #7: The Power of a Friend
Having a friend who had been there before would have made the experience exponentially better.
As I related my experience to a friend, he told me that his first experience at a casino was completely different. I asked him to elaborate, thinking that possibly because his experience was in Las Vegas, the casinos there were more visitor friendly.
As he shared his experience, I noticed one glaring difference. His story started with being in Vegas for a conference with some colleagues. I asked if his colleagues had been to a casino before. They had…many times. They were regulars.
We have all seen the look of a first-time guest at our church who walks in and sees a familiar face. Everything about the person brightens and relaxes. Someone they know can walk with them through this experience. While you want to ensure you have done everything in your control to create a space welcoming to a new person, you can never underestimate the power of a friend.
Various studies over the decades have made it clear that people are far more likely to visit a church when invited by a friend. Marketing to your community to let them know you are present and ready to serve them is important, but it is limited. Extremely limited.
If you want your church to reach new people in your community, start by building an invitational culture where your “regulars” are excited to bring their friends and family to their church because being part of their church family is making a difference in their life. If the people who make up your church congregation are unwilling to invite their friends, you have a problem far deeper than good signage or better advertising.
Your church family needs to see Jesus’ vision for their local church of sharing the Good News of God’s love with their community. They need to hear that the purpose of the church is not to have a great location with fun and even rewarding activities that reinforce their own commitment to the church. They need to hear that the purpose of the church is to invite people not currently part of the church to come and see how much God loves them and wants to help them find their meaning and significance in life.
The more you do this, the less you will have to worry about better signage, cooler ads, or social media posts that go viral. Instead, you will have a community of people who own the job of making their church a place people feel welcomed and included. You will have a community of people who are building an ethos of love for others.
In short, teach your people hospitality as part of the vision for sharing Jesus with the community. When the goal is to share Jesus with people, you will automatically work on making the space welcoming.
First-time guests often feel like they are walking into a whole new world when they show up at your church. You can’t change that, but you can change how you welcome them and help them participate in the experience of seeking God and hearing how much God loves us. Make the first-time guest a priority in your preparation. Love them the way God loves them. Welcome them the way God welcomes them.
Not every guest will come back, no matter how much you prepare for them. That’s okay. Jesus simply asked you to be faithful and join Him in celebrating the one that responds to His love with faith.
When it comes to casinos, the house always wins. That’s how they stay in business! The majority of people who participate leave with less money than when they came in. When it comes to the church, the house wins when Jesus’ love is shown to people who think they don’t deserve it. From the world’s perspective, this is a bad business plan; but in God’s economy, the biggest win happens when one lost sinner comes home and rejoins God’s family. We get to play a part in that win every week by welcoming people into our church.
Share your stories of welcoming guests in the comments below or by emailing Jason or Rob at The Church Talk Project (jason@churchtalkproject.com or rob@churchtalkproject.com).
