Guest Integration Manual

Five K-Cups

Five K-Cups (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s a quick description of Shepherd of the Ridge, North Ridgeville, OH‘s guest integration system:

Integration

Our guest integration process is customized based on a person’s first Point of Contact, how they first encounter us.

Road Sign

2 “Reserved for First Time Guests” parking spots

Sunday Worship

  • PowerPoint Preservice Slide
Welcome Guests

Welcome to Shepherd of the Ridge. We hope today will be just the beginning of your time with us.

 

We want to get to know you and are serious about making a difference in our community, so if this is your first time worshiping with us, please complete the Guest Information insert in your program and leave it with us, and we’ll donate $5 to Love INC., a local organization that helps without hurting, giving a hand-up instead of a handout.
  • Parking Lot/Entry
    • Guest Parking (3 spots designated)
    • Greeter with Guest Packets in hand
  • Sanctuary Greeter to watch for new faces and welcome after guest sits
  • Coffee/tea/water on back table, Keurig, water pitchers for drinking or to refill Keurig, ice bucket, paper racks for newsletters and other documents on table so they take up less space, cups, lids, napkins

First Time Guests

  • Red Guest Packet: Custom folders/envelopes
  • (In bulletin: Fill out & turn in card, we donate $5 to Love, INC., a local organization that helps by giving a hand up, not a hand out)
  • CD: Fountain of New Life (worship band) music
  • DVD: Vision, DQuest, Journey Groups, Family Secrets Sermon Series
  • Documents: Future magazine, Gospel statement, communion statement
  • Fridge Magnet
  • Service Feedback Form w/ extra $1 donation

 

During Service

  • Post-service look-around: Before you leave the sanctuary, look around you, find someone you don’t know well, and introduce yourself

 

On Exit

  • Greeter inviting them back
  • Hospitality team: Someone invite them to lunch (Simple for the 1st service people who go out for brunch after. They could pitch in to cover the guest’s bill.)

 

Follow-Up

  • Phone call: thanks, hope to see you again, anything I can pray about for you or someone you know?
  • Email with link to service, online survey, share, etc.
  • Hand-written postcard
  • If made prayer request, phone follow-up a week later
  • 2nd Time Guests
  • Arrival/Preservice (Greeter watches for those parking in guest spots)
  • Greeter asks if already received guest packet, if so, offers next steps packet
  • Usher welcomes back after seeing next steps packet & points out hospitality table
  • Usher points guest out to Sanctuary Greeter, who also says welcome back

During Service

  • Post-service look around

After Service

  • Greeter Invite back
  • Make sure got packet

Next Steps Packet

  • Blue for easy identification
  • DQuest manual
  • Sermon DVD set: some new series, CD set until then with Family Secrets series
  • Sign-up sheet with SASE: Family member list; (DQuest, Journey Group, audition for band, AV team, welcome team (greeter/usher), marriage enrichment, community action team, intergenerational incarnational recreation team, CLM), what are your hobbies?; description of different items on sheet; will donate $5 if return sheet or use online form; Next steps & contact info for different life situations (As we connect the people in our community to Christ’s love, we strengthen each other as we make a difference side-by-side. We accomplish this through spiritual training and compassionate kindness to those in need.)
  • Voucher for free DVD movie next visit (With DVD comes pass to get access to Table after next visit)

Follow-Up

  • Phone call: thank-you, invite back, offer to pray
  • Email like 1st visit, link to online sign-up form
  • Prayer request follow-up a week later

Preschool

  • Parent Night Presentation & more info sheet
  • November kids sing in service: use standard guest protocol

Journey Group

See separate manual

God & Grub

  • Informal over dinner/pizza and/or non-word game like Uno
  • Everyone invited to bring questions about God, no question off-limits, no minimum participation, silent observers welcome. Adult, teen, or kid; not cross-generational except leader.
  • Led by DQuest mentor & apprentice
  • Separate teen & adult events
  • Meet at restaurant or other public space allowing food (park, etc.), nothing with too much background noise so all can hear. Corner booths or picnic tables work especially well.
  • Ppt slide: Got questions about God or the Bible? Got doubts? Got friends with questions or doubts? Or just want to hear some forbidden questions asked & discussed? Meet us at the next God & Grub: a meal at a local restaurant where no question is off-limits, and anyone is welcome.
  • Suggested Catalyst questions:
    • What keeps people away from God?
    • What’s your experience with churches, good or bad?
    • If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
    • If God had a job in our community, what would He like to do?
    • What is the best objection you’ve heard to Christianity?
    • Would you like to have Jesus at your Super Bowl party?
  • End with Next Steps handout like 2nd time guest

DiscipleQuest

Not normally a first point of contact, but rather a destination for the rest.

Camp Soter

  • Closing program Sunday morning during service
  • Standard guest protocol
  • Picnic following service: opportunity for congregation to make connections

Membership Steps

  1. Begin DiscipleQuest
  2. If LCMS member, Seasoned Veteran, train to honorary apprentice
  3. If not, begin as Trainee
  4. Baptized member after Meet the Mystery
  5. Communicant & Voting Member once Honorary Apprentice
  6. At end of Member mission, honorary trainees complete membership class as final challenge and sign a Membership Covenant.


Your Secret Responsibilities

Originally written for Shepherd of the Ridge Lutheran Church, apply these ideas to your local context.

OK, everyone, as a member of Shepherd of the Ridge, has certain responsibilities: Worship, Bible study, taking care of your family, and that whole 10 Commandments thing. But did you know that, as an (all too often secret) agent in God’s army, you have secret responsibilities?

In his blog, church leadership guru Nelson Searcy suggests that every church member, when attending worship, have a set of responsibilities to accommodate guests. Borrowing from his list, here’s my custom list for Shepherd of the Ridge members:

  • Fill out the pew pad and offer it to anyone else in your seat: This helps us make sure nobody “slips through the cracks” if they haven’t been here for a while. It also encourages guests to fill it out, since they’re not being singled out. (Being a smaller church, they already feel exposed.)
  • Sit toward the middle of the pew instead of at the aisle. (If you have trouble walking due to a medical condition, I’ll excuse you from this one, not doctor’s excuse required.) This allows guests to easily find a place to sit.
  • When you see someone you don’t know, introduce yourself. If you think they may be members, but either you or they haven’t been to church in a while (or you just haven’t had a chance to talk to them before), “Hi, I’m <name>, but I’m not sure we’ve met,” works. In a smaller church where “everyone knows everyone (not true, but that’s the perception),” guests want to know that they won’t be excluded.
  • This may sound obvious, but when you talk to guests, invite them back. There’s a reason the kid at McDonald’s says, “Thanks. Come again.” He doesn’t care, but he’s been instructed to say that. It plants the idea. We actually do care, and we want people to know that they are welcome here unconditionally.
  • If you request a prayer before the service, be loud enough that everyone, not just the pastor, can hear you. People care and want to know whom they’re praying for.

Is God going to strike you down if you sit by the aisle? Nope. He loves you. But He also wants you to love your neighbor as yourself, and that means making personal sacrifices for others.

We sometimes talk about assimilating guests and new members, that is making them more like us. That’s not our job and is, honestly, selfish. We should accommodate guests and new members, making (pretty small, really) sacrifices to make them feel comfortable and welcome.

So next time you come (and we want you to come back, too!), keep these suggestions in mind. If you have other suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.