With Easter less than a week away, we turn our focus to reflecting on the cross, remembering through communion and celebrating Resurrection Sunday. As pastors, we are ready for our Super Bowl, the biggest Sunday of the year – and the highest in attendance!
Easter is one of the easiest and most effective opportunities to invite someone new to church. We know that if the people in our church invite family, neighbors, co-workers or friends to join them for the Easter service at their church, someone will say ‘yes’ and go with them.
Do they only attend one Sunday each year? How do you get these guests to come back?
Here are three ways to increase your guest rate of return:
1. Connection
A guest will return more frequently when they connected with another person in the seats. This may be the person who invited them, someone they already knew or a new person they met.
Remind your people to invite their guests back again! A return invitation from someone the guest knows and can sit with is the easiest way to get them to return.
2. Clarity
A guest will return more frequently when they are clearly given the next step for someone who is a guest. Your guests have attended a one-time special event, Easter. Invite them back to another one-time special event. After attending multiple events, your guests will feel like they belong and consider themselves a “regular.”
Plan a guest-friendly event two Sundays after Easter and give a clear invitation for your guests to return. Do not assume that they are a regular at your church because they showed up for Easter. Continue to treat them extra-special!
3. Children’s Ministry
A guest will return more frequently when their children want to come back. Parents do not want to battle their kids each Sunday morning and drag them to church. However, if the kids are excited and want to return, the parents are more willing to take them again.
Make sure children of guests are invited to return. Give them an invitation. Tell them about an upcoming event they can get excited about. Make sure the last activity before they leave is one they will tell their parents about.
Chances are your attendance the couple of weeks after Easter will be lower than your Easter Sunday attendance. By prioritizing personal connection, providing clear invites back and creating an exciting experience for their children, more of your guests will return. Now it is your job to continue to share the love of Jesus and the free gift of salvation with them.
If we can help you implement these principles in your church, Excel Leadership Coaching is here to help.