What congregation doesn’t want their guests during the Christmas season to return, right?  With that being said, there is not always the intentionality, focus, and planning in place to make this a priority or a reality.  With just a few tweaks, the chances of your Christmas guests engaging in the life of the church in January increases dramatically.

Here are some helpful tips for your consideration as you plan for the Advent season.

More Comprehensive Hospitality

Many churches have focused on increasing their hospitality over the past decade. This includes foci on being more friendly, having ample interior and exterior signage, designated guest parking, refreshments, etc. What’s important to understand is that this type of hospitality is indeed important, but this is the baseline in today’s culture. True seekers are looking for ways to connect and relate to the congregation. They want to be recognized for their unique needs and desires. It’s thinking beyond basic hospitality to receiving guests and building relationships.

To create the possibility for this type of connection, a focus on building authentic, trusting relationships is required. It calls for having spiritually-gifted connectors rather than simply ushers and greeters. Connectors offer assistance (be careful not to overwhelm and be sensitive to body language and social cues) in navigating the facility, the worship services, introductions to other congregants and leaders, building tours, sharing coffee together, and follow-up conversations.  These follow-up conversations are not to sell the guest on the church, but to hear a guest’s story and ask questions of the guest to assist in connecting with other people and programs to meet their needs and desires.

Relatable Experience

When it comes to creating a worship experience that is geared towards guests, there are several things to keep in mind. For starters, this is certainly not the time to use churchy words (i.e. narthex) or insider acronyms (UMC, KFC, UMM). Make sure everyone who is leading in worship introduces themselves. Ensure the demographics of your guests are represented in the worship leadership and others serving.

Above all, most guests want to feel a sense of nostalgia and completeness during the Christmas season. This is not the time to create a worship experience and message that doesn’t include the Christmas story and recognizable hymns (i.e. Silent Night). Invoke their emotions. Provide a sense of hope and inspiration. Provide an experience that makes them glad they attended.

Compelling Reason to Return

Planning and pulling off Christmas services takes an immense amount of time and energy. No doubt about it. So much is expended for Adent that churches typically roll into January with low energy and expectations. What if we thought about January a bit differently? What if we invest as much energy into planning January as we do for Christmas?

A church may provide a relevant and compelling Christmas worship experience, but don’t provide a compelling reason or even invitation for guests to return. Create a video or at least a verbal blurb about the upcoming sermon series. The sermon series should touch on a felt need or answer lingering spiritual or relational questions of the guests. A church could even provide index card size invitations and compelling information about the January sermon series to hand out as guests leave the service as a reminder to post on their refrigerator.

Depending on the demographics of your guests, other compelling reasons to return may be connecting with a small group on a topic that meets a felt-need, an event that appeals to their demographic, a featured speaker on a relatable topic, or a musician/singer that is popular amongst your guests.

A church typically receives more guests during Advent than any other time of year. Take advantage of this opportunity by tweaking your planning and implementation. Rather than simply hoping your guests will return, why not focus on the areas of relationship-focused hospitality, creating a relatable experience, and providing a compelling reason to return? By implementing these tips, your congregation is sure to have more returning guests in January.