Top 10 ways churches drive away newcomers

Tuesday, March 10th, 2015

If you attend a church regularly, you may have noticed a person shows up for a worship service, but he or she never returns.

Thom S Rainer carried out a twitter survey to see if he could find out how church communities drive away newcomers.

This is what he discovered:

Having a stand up and greet one another time in the worship service. This response was my greatest surprise for two reasons. First, I was surprised how much guests are really uncomfortable during this time. Second, I was really surprised that it was the most frequent response.
Unfriendly church members. This response was anticipated. But the surprise was the number of respondents who included non-genuine friendliness in their answers. In other words, the guests perceived some of the church members were faking it.
Unsafe and unclean children’s area. This response generated the greatest emotional reactions. If your church does not give a high priority to children, don’t expect young families to attend.
No place to get information. If your church does not have a clear and obvious place to get information, you probably have lowered the chances of a return visit by half. There should also be someone to greet and assist guests at that information center as well. Read the rest of the top 10 list