Survey Finds That Visitors Don't Like "Stand and Greet" Time

According to a Twitter poll conducted by Thom Rainer, CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, visitors don’t like the stand and greet time that many churches have on Sunday mornings. He asked what factors made first-time visitors decide not to return to a church, and the top one was dislike of the greeting time. Seven reasons were given for this, including some guests are introverts, some perceive that the members aren't sincere during the greeting time, the members only greet other members, and both members and guests at some churches perceive that the entire exercise is awkward (“Should Your Church Stop Having a Stand and Greet Time?” The Christian Post, Nov. 12, 2014). My wife and I have traveled a lot, and we have often discussed how that it seems that most church members ignore the visitors, and if they do greet them, the greeting typically seems robotic and insincere. I have found this to be true even when I am the guest preacher! In a large number of churches I have preached in, the guest preacher is ignored during the greeting time. Far more important than a greeting ritual is to educate and exhort church members to be thoughtful of and genuinely friendly to visitors. Visitors should be befriended and helped, and the church should figure out a way to do this so that no visitor “falls through the cracks.” It would seem wise for visitors to be greeted and befriended from the time they enter the church premises to the time they leave, and that they be followed up on unless they decline follow up.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 26, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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