Our church has been rethinking our hospitality ministry. One of the things we asked our people was, what questions do you typically ask new guests to our church? It was amazing, upon reflection many of the questions asked, were more centered on us (the church). Eg. What did you think about our service? How did you find out about our church? These setup an air of, I want to ask you questions to find out more about us. The second question in particular was common to ask where people heard about us from. It can come across as a form of market research to see what are effective ways we target new people. I could just see a drop down box to select: Website, Direct Mail, etc. Now, I know this isn't the heart of our people when they ask. Typically, it could be they want to know if a friend invited them or if they read about us on the internet as a point of conversation. Are there better questions to ask? Here is a new question that may do a better job:
What brought you to church today?
The point of the question is to listen to the guest, learn about them and possibly discern ministry opportunity. If we are to minister to and love guests, it is good to know what brought them. Did they return to church after many years? Did they find out a family member passed away? Are they looking for a new church because they came to a place of conviction about their last church? Did they just move to the area? Did they just become a Christian? It seems like this is a more effective way to really listen to our guests and begin a conversation where we can love and pray for them based on where they are at.
