Engaging Visitors for Service

Historically, visitors to churches sit back, observe a church for a short time, and then decide to place membership. This process appears to have changed in a couple of ways. First, visitors take much longer to make a decision about membership than in the past. Some take upwards of six months to decide. Second, they don’t want to observe; they want to participate. Churches must develop a way to get visitors involved sooner in order to grow.

Assimilation — Getting new people to become an active, contributing part of the congregation.

Transfer Growth — Church growth through Christians moving into the area or changing congregations.

Most churches face the same two problems. They are losing members at an alarming rate and never have enough volunteers. Of course, our first instinct is to say that the second problem stems from the first (not enough volunteers because people are leaving), but some argue the causal relationship goes the opposite direction; people are leaving because they aren’t volunteering.

Nelson Searcy (Lead Pastor at The Journey Church based in New York City) has written numerous books addressing the second causal relationship. In his books, such as Ignite, Connect, and Fusion (see References below), Searcy argues that one reason people leave a congregation after a short time is they never become involved. Because we know that to be true, we offer small groups, Bible classes, fellowship meals, welcome classes, etc. as a way of involving visitors and new members. But these strategies lack an opportunity to serve. People like to contribute to the work of the Kingdom, or as Searcy puts it, “to be a part of something greater.”

This approach challenges many of the churches with which Searcy consults and would do so for many churches of Christ. Few would argue that giving people a chance to serve is a great idea. It gets them active and solves the volunteer problem. But for most churches, this strategy would only work for transfer growth. After all, non-Christians can’t serve in the church, right? It is this very premise that Searcy challenges.

While there are certainly some tasks that need to be limited to Christians and a few that should be limited to members of the congregation, Searcy argues that some tasks can be used as avenues through which visitors, especially non-Christians, get a chance to connect with the church in a meaningful way.

What better way for a non-Christian to see Christ in our church than allowing him or her to work alongside members setting up tables for a luncheon or directing parking lot traffic for a special event? Of course, members need to understand their role in the “connection” process for this strategy to work. Every member must be willing to mentor, encourage, and even teach visitors about Christ and His church.

The next question, after wrestling with the theological issues, is a logistical one. How do visitors know about service opportunities available to them? One solution is a Servant Card (below).

A Servant Card is made available in a rack, in the pews, or at a welcome center. It doesn’t list every service opportunity in the church, but it does identify “entry level” service opportunities that anyone, member or non-member, may choose to participate in. The goal of the card is to get people involved who haven’t been involved in the past. These tasks should be easy to begin doing with very little preparation or vetting. The key is to identify the availability of these service opportunities to everyone, even to those who are visiting.

On the sample servant card, a visitor can clearly see that they are welcome to go to work, even while checking out the congregation. It has the added advantage of letting them know that, once a member, numerous other opportunities will become available to them as well. On this card, visitors who are interested in doing more are invited to speak with a minister or elder, opening the door to sharing with them about being a Christian if they are not already so.

This card is an example of one congregation’s decisions about the service opportunities open to visitors. The leadership must decide which service opportunities are limited to Christians and/or members. For example, most congregations restrict involvement in children’s ministries to well-established, active members for obvious safety reasons.

As with all new endeavors, policies and procedures will need to be developed. However, the effort to engage visitors in acts of service early may keep them from ever looking for a “back door.”