How aggressively should we pursue our guest?

Shades of gray in follow-up Contact

Once upon a time, especially in the Bible belt, it was assumed that if a person visited a church they wanted to be noticed.  In fact, some folks were down right offended if you didn’t recognize them from the pulpit.  One preacher’s kid I know of would fill out fictitious visitor’s cards so his dad could recognize them at the end of the service.  It was great fun till his dad learned that the church had not been visited by, Alice Cooper, Molly Hatchet or any of a number of rock musicians.  Later, we were taught that guests needed to be visited within 24 hours of attending services.  The chances of their returning to visit increased dramatically if church members bearing cookies visited them. 

Then came seeker sensitivity services and many churches became reluctant to make any contact with visitors.  Churches promised potential visitors that they could remain completely anonymous.  The responsibility for initiating contact with the church lay entirely with the guest.  A guest could literally attend such a church their whole lives and never be contacted by the church.

With gated communities, hectic schedules, and the resistance of many people to leave contact information, the way follow-up with guests is done has changed.  Somewhere between the extremes of a church stalking a guest and completely ignoring them, we need to find a sound philosophy of contact.

The un-churched are allowed to remain anonymous
On the one hand, it can be argued that the growth of the church ought to occur in terms of natural growth via relationships with the un-churched.   As individual members invite their friends to worship, the guest will be inclined to become part of what they experience.  There is no need to attempt to identify or contact guests. Guests set the pace of their involvement and contact with the church. Guests are not contacted or visited at their home or work place. Invitations to guest specific events or receptions are either in a general public form or via the personal relationship the guest already has.

There are a number of merits to this hands-off approach; especially, when the guest tends toward being an introvert.  However, and forgive me for being blunt, some church leaders prefer this approach because it requires less work than old fashioned calling.  

Prospects are aggressively sought and follow-up is highly intentional
At the other extreme, the church seeks contact with lost people by every means feasible.  Contact information about guests is intentionally requested and done in such a way as to be most effective, be that visitor cards, guest registry role-call tablets on each pew, or roll of seats.    Prospects are to be identified, visited, and tracked. There is an attempt to learn of their church and spiritual background and to arrange appropriate visits either for evangelism or membership. There is a disciplined theory of progression toward conversion and church membership.  This is the system that served the church for a generation and is especially useful if you want to look busy. 

There is likely no place where finding the correct course for each congregation is more critical.  On one extreme, people could be lost because they perceive the church as non-caring.  On the other extreme, people could be lost because they are made to feel like projects and objects of manipulation.

Somewhere on this spectrum, we need to establish the role of social media.  If you have a name and the name of a few friends, you can likely find a person on some social media platform.  But for a minister to pop up on someone’s Facebook page may come across as stalking.  While a private message via Facebook might work great for a Baby Boomer, it may go unnoticed by a Millennial.  No one doubts that a church needs a strong web presence, but even the greatest of advocates of social media admit it is not the same as being there. 

When a guest walks into our public worship services, we have a sacred responsibility to love them and reach out to them in a way that effectively expresses the love of the Savior.