Following Up with NewSpring Guests

Several weeks ago, I received a number of questions about how NewSpring handles follow up with people who are guests at our services. I asked Jake Beaty, our pastor of care and outreach, to provide the answers with all the nitty-gritty details. Here are his responses:

First, do you do anything to recognize visitors or get information about the church into their hands?

We have a sign as people are pulling into our parking lot to turn on their hazard lights if they are a first-time visitor. We have parking that is close to the building designated for them, and we send a greeter to their car to guide them to where they need to be and answer questions. Some people will do this, but most first-time visitors do not want anyone to know that it is their first time. Because of this, we always make a point to welcome first-time visitors during our welcome/announcement time during each service and we invite them to fill out a guest registration card in their worship guide and drop it in the offering at the end of the service. We follow up with each of these and get them whatever information they need.

If you do, what do you do? How do you connect with them?

We follow up with everyone that turns in a guest registration card.

Do people respond to this?

Over the last 3 months we have averaged 48 people a week that turn in guest registrations cards and have designated that they are a first-time visitor. Obviously, there are a number of folks who visit and prefer to remain anonymous until they’re ready to take their next step.

Is it effective/does it work?

I think it has been very effective in making people feel welcome and that even though we are a big church, we care about each of them individually. We have had lots of great feedback from people that are amazed that we contacted them as quickly as we did and said that they would definitely return to our church.

What type of information do you try to gather from your visitors?

Name, phone numbers, address, email address, children and spouses names, prayer requests.

How do you go about doing this?

Guest information card in the worship guide

Do you have a plan and system in place to track visitors that come – 1, 2, 3, . . . times etc?

No. We offer next steps outside of the Sunday services for people to connect in membership, home groups and serving opportunities. Though we challenge people frequently to take their next step, it’s up to them to do that.

Do you have a plan for helping visitors become returning/connected folks? If so, what does this look like?

We follow up with everyone that fills out a guest registration card within 24 hours. We make phone calls to each of them to thank them for coming and to answer any questions they have about our church. We also send each of them a letter which invites them back for our services the next week, directs them to our website, and tells them the best ways to contact us with any questions that they have.