Tonight I was asked by a guy in our church to be a “Greeter” which means I’d shake people’s hands as they come in. (Twitter user)
A greeter does more than shake hands on a Sunday morning.
Greeters are the front line of your church’s hospitality ministry.
They are a vital part of your organized friendliness that helps members and visitors connect with each other.
Don’t settle for whosoever
Too many churches simply recruit warm bodies to fill this role.
That those jobs are filled without much thought, training, or planning indicates the failure to recognize the special role that greeters have in welcoming your guests and members.
Why another book on church greeters?
After
- six years of writing on church hospitality issues for EvangelismCoach.org,
- reading several different books on greeting ministry,
- conducting live workshops on church hospitality, and
- interacting with users of ChurchGreeterTraining.com,
I’ve noticed the following holes in the information:
- How to organize a greeting ministry
- How to train your greeters / ushers
- And the big one: Greeters want to know what to say.
After all, there are only so many ways one can say “Good morning” at the entry door greeting line.
Take your church greeting to the next level
As part of my work, I’ve talked with several church leaders around the United States who are at the point of organizing some kind of greeting team.
They have ushers at the sanctuary doors, but no greeters at the entry doors.
These churches consider themselves to be friendly, but want to take that friendliness to the next level.
Other churches simply ignore this blessing of hospitality because they either fail to see the need to greet visitors, lack the know-how for how to greet visitors, or simply don’t care and prefer things the way they are.
No other resources like this
According to anecdotal surveys that I’ve done with leaders of greeting ministries, it is clear that currently available material for greeter training is not specialized enough. The information on the market now is not answering the questions asked of me.
With the exception of two books on the market as of late 2009, much of what I have read contains outdated practices that are not even relevant for today.
Misses a majority of churches.
Some books I’ve evaluated are focused on large campus churches in the American suburbs.
However, nearly 80% of churches in the US see fewer than 100 in worship attendance on a regular basis.
One recent statistic pushes this further, claiming the average worship attendance in America is only 53 people.
These books miss the general church audience.
Not specific enough.
Some resources are focused on the overall picture of hospitality and first impressions that greeters might only get one or two pages of mention.
These books don’t fill the gap in recruiting or training.
Order your copy of Church Greeters 101
This book, in contrast, seeks to fill in that gap and give you some practical steps in training your greeters.
This book’s target audience is greeters, hospitality committees, and those who want to ramp up their greeting process to the next level.
Order your copy of Church Greeters 101 and start taking your welcome up a notch
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