Organizing your greeter team is not a process that naturally happens. This video was first made in 2009, so it may seem a little old compared to some of the other ones.
As humans, we tend to over organize (particularly those gifted in administration – like me).
How do you structure your teams?
Watch this 3 minute video and I’ll tell you what I learned
How is your greeting ministry organized? Would you share?
Include your the approximate attendance size of your church and how many services would be helpful to know.
I’d like to hear from you. More video tips will be coming in a few days and I’ll announce them via email.
Cyndy Sumbad says
I come from a very small church (avg wkly attend of about 25), with one worship service. Volunteers are designated weekly. Our greeting ministry is pretty much a “door greeter” ministry, although we’ve begun to deliberately expand it to include other areas of extending our hospitality.
Nicole Ross says
Great Video! We have a smaller church (150-200) and use only door greeters. I just call members of the church once a week and get them to greet. Wish I could create a little bit more excitement though. I’d love to work on a rotation schedule which people could commit more.
Nicole
Michael says
I work with a church of 750-800 that has two morning services. Each of our 18 ministries are led by Ministry Directors (volunteer positions) of which our Greeting Ministry is one. The Greeting M.D. is responsible for putting together a leadership team that meets monthly. This team is currently in the formation process, but when fully organized will consist of a leader over door greeters, a leader over the Welcome Center, and a leader over first-time guest followup. In the future we hope to add another leader over parking lot greeting. Our ministry group is currently studying and implementing some of the ideas we learned from Nelson Searcy’s book, Fusion.
Church Administrator - WELC says
We have a chairperson who manages the overall administration of the Greeters team.
List for which Sundays door welcomers assist.
Adults and Youth both are greeters. Youth on 2nd Sundays.
When we go out to another Church, Chairperson makes sure there is support for our Church there.
Ministry celebrations include greeters from other churches.
Paula Smith says
We are located in Detroit, MI, have an average attendance of 1400 and have two Sunday morning services at 9:00 and 11:30am. I am paid staff as the Director of First Impressions & Communication (which also includes Connection and Office Administration. The following teams fall under my direction:
Parking Lot Greeters
Usher/Greeter
Cafe Grace
Information Counter (ME)
Security
We have leaders meetings on a monthly basis and team meetings on a quarterly basis – two of which include emergency training.
I love these videos – I will be sharing them with our leaders in order to enhance our efforts.
I hope to be in touch with you soon! I want to add a new team of ‘Connection Hosts.’
Paula says
Our church has an average attendance of 450-550 each Sunday. We just recently started a second service, which gives us the 8am and 11am service.
As the volunteer leader of this ministry, we meet monthly. Our ministry consist of both door greeters and welcome greeters. We have uniforms(summer/fall/and formal for big events).
Schedules are given out twice a year. The first schedule extends from Jan-June, and the second from July-Dec. There are 3-4 members on each team, and each team has one designated Sunday each month.
We also serve as parking lot greeters, especially on rainy days, and meet members/visitors with umbrellas.
Martin Crowell says
Thanks for all of the information about Greeters. Do you have anythjing on Ushers?????
Louise says
Our church has two services, 8 & 11 with over 2,000 worshippers per Sunday and a Wednesday evening service. Over 80 Greeters are scheduled by preferred Sundays and service times. Example, 1 & 3 Sunday, 8 or 11. Jr. Greeters serve on 3rd Sunday. Twelve Service Leaders serve under me as Team Leaders for the above with the same schedule. Additionally, they also oversee other areas of the ministry such as:
Special Events
Attire
Hospitality
Spiritual Growth
New Greeter training
Jr. Greeters
Administrative Assistant
Lost and Found
The entire Greeters ministry meets monthly onsite and two-hour Service/Team Leaders meetings are scheduled offsite bi-monthly.
I really enjoy the videos,the comments and good ideas from other greeter teams.
Beth says
I attend a church that avg’s 75 attendees a week.
I create a bi-monthly Church Service schedule where I list Greeters, Worship leader, Special Music, Sound booth/slideshow, Nursery, church cleaners, and Children’s Ministry servers. It’s nice to have a 2 month snapshot of where everyone is serving. It also helps to ensure a person isn’t “over booked”.
Nanette says
I appreciate the question on ushers. We currently have only ushers (our church enrollment is about 125 families) and are considering adding greeters. I’m not sure that there is enough difference between the two roles to warrant recruiting more volunteers. Suggestions?
Maureen ollivierre says
Our church has about 100 members. we have both ushers and greeters. The both teams are needed because their roles are different . You must see the vision. While the greeters receive the vistors, greet them ,take their coats, boots , show them around eg. wash rooms, baby and children facilities if they have children, and discuss any other needs they may have, when a vistor enters inside the church assemble a usher will take over, greet the vistor and take him/her to a seat and , if it is a first time vistor the greeter will let the usher know, if possible or the usher will know while conversing with the vistor. That person will then be given a paper to fill out. The usher and greeter work hand in hand inorder to prepare a comfortable environment for each vistor.
Ruby barnes says
We average approx. 215 per Sunday in our congregation. This includes 50 children for which we have an active Sunday School Ministry( known as Transformers.)We have 50 individuals involved in our Usher/ Greeter Ministry who rotate on a regular basis. I oversee the Usher/ Greeter Ministry but also have 2 separate individuals scheduling the ushers and greeters.
Evan A Wimer says
Our congregation consists of around 400 members. We have 3 services; 1 Saturday and 2 Sunday morning. We have developed over the years 5 greeting groups: Parking Lot, Lobby Greeters, Wecome Center Information, Ushers and recently the Exit Greeters. This Spring we are also interjecting our Youth Assistants into the Lobby, Exit and Ushers groups, along with scripture reading at our 10:30 service. We organize assignments on a weekly assignment per month, it takes around 125 peaple to cover all the positions. We therefore do have people that double up on assignments. We also have positions as Team Ministry Leaders, Admin Leaders and Service Captain. To handle this large number of Team Members we have developed an Excel spreadsheet to organize the groups. Chris,If your interested in a copy send me an email.
Catherine says
We have 2 services and about 500 attenders. I coordinate the Welcome Center and Door Greeter volunteers. I call each household to ask if they are interested in volunteering their time in various areas of the church functions. If they would like to Greet or work the Welcome Center, I schedule them for the preferred service and dates throughout the calendar year. Most are able to take a month at a time. I have implemented a Host/Hostess recently. This person will escort a newcomer to an area such as the Nursery, bathrooms, coffee area, etc. If they are interested in other volunteer areas I refer them to a Leader, who gives them a call to schedule. Our pastor is going to hold a meeting in two weeks to discuss some ideas to improve on our welcome techniques and has invited all volunteers to attend. I will let you know how it turns out.
Becky Sommerfield says
Our church runs between 200-250. We have three entrances, each with hallways that lead to the sanctuary. I staff each door with greeters and try to fill these with married couples so we have a man and a woman greeting. They greet for a month at a time. It is easier for them to remember if it is 4 times in a row, rather than 4 times a year spread out. Also, when you have new people come, if they come back the next week, they will see familiar faces from the week before. We also have 4 ushers just inside the sanctuary doors that greet and pass out bulletins. Depending on which door they come in, they could be greeted as many as four times. We are told by visitors that because they are greeted, they are made to feel welcome.
Joan Grace says
O my, the video is broken. I can’t watch the whole video. I really wanted to see this, I want to learn from you more,
EvangelismCoach says
I tested the video on my machine. It’s working now.
Make sure you have the most updated adobe flash player installed on your browser (google it). It is free.
Karen says
Our church has someone on the Board of Deacons have people sign up, or ask a week or two in advance for volunteers. No training, just be there. Unsure of the time either.
Larry Edwards says
I would love to have your traing material but i want to run this by my pastor frist and see what he may think of this we are lioke 75 strong in the word of God and i’m in process of traing greeter and ushers for this church wich is located in lewisville texas once i have my pastors permission i will be getting your material thanks and may God bless you
EvangelismCoach says
Thanks Larry.
Remember, it’s electronic delivery of the ebook here. Many people find the information extremely practical and useful with great discussion questions to talk about among your team.
Chris
Johnny says
We have about 400 who attend one service. We have two greeters at every door. Husband and wife couples when possible. Each greeter serves one Sunday a month. I have one lady who calls greeters every week to remind them it is their week to greet. We only meet once a year for training and celebration. Greeters serve at a different door each time they greet so they get to greet everyone over a period of time. I am on staff and head up each team each week. We have a greeter manual that every greeter is given and asked to read. It has pretty much the information I have seen so far, but not in a video format. I really like what you are doing. Good stuff.
EvangelismCoach says
Thanks Johnny for stopping in and watching.
As I’ve grown more in my understanding and thinking, I am moving towards recommending that greeters serve four weeks or a month at a time, rather than rotating around weekly.
This church greeter rotation allows then for the greeter to potentially know who the repeat visitor is (because they met them last week). And it also allows for a short term focused committment of a particular task.
I do see benefit in taking “2nd sunday” but I’m leaning towards “the month of February” for some kind of consistency.
gracetilao says
For me i been doing to attend a cell group ministries in our church Solid Foundation Ministry and evangelize also the words of God In the other People .
Saying How great is Our God.
Don says
Something Catherine said got my mind going. I really like the idea of having trained hosts/hostesses loitering near the doors. When a greeter identifies a guest, they could be introduced to a host/hostess who will serve as a concierge of sorts for the guest throughout the service. That way, the greeters keep greeting instead of wondering off with a guest in search of the bathrooms or whatever, and the guest can get personalized and un-rushed attention from the host.
S. Campbell says
I am thrilled to find new ideas on organizing the greeter teams. Our attendance is about 130 for each of 2 services, 9:30 & 11:15. The early greeters (5 or 6) do it every week, by choice. The later service is more complicated, with most people doing it once or twice a month. I’m liking the idea of month-at-a-time for the reasons mentioned above. Continuity, greeting repeat visitors, and firming up their training are good reasons for not having a big turnover every week. Thanks for the valuable input!
EvangelismCoach.org says
I find churches moving to a hybrid system:
* Those that can do month at a time, or even two or three months at a time.
* Those that can do Same Sunday monthly.
* Those that can serve when present (we have a few that work on Random Sundays, so there is no consistency in their attendance – think airline pilots).
I fall in this last category too because I travel to give conferences on a regular basis, so may not have a routine Sunday.
It’s more work for the organizer, but it adapts to the schedules that people have.
Paula says
Great ideas/comments!!!! I posted comments here about 4 years ago. I love the website and find some very useful ideas in the comment section. It’s great to hear from people all over the country. This allows you to see different things that are being done; no matter how big/small the church. Since my last post, our church has added a Security Ministry and they handle the parking lot. They are equipped with golf carts, especially when parking is limited and members have to park a distance from the church. They also assist with umbrellas when needed.
Love the idea of serving a month at a time! Our team did not embrace this idea a few years ago, but it may be time to re-visit this one.
We also have greeters that we utilize for special events, such as a visiting church from out of town. We will have a team of greeters meet/greet them at the hotel and as they load the bus to head back home, we hand out thank-you bags(snacks/water/reading material).